are not large, but their numbers compensate for their size, and 

 make the plant very undesirable were sheep or goats are likely 

 to graze. 



AMARANTACEjE. 



Cyathula cylindrica, Moq. 



A rambling plant with elongated stems, usually found at, 

 edges of woods or amongst scrub, the leaves are opposite, 

 petiolate, ovate-acuminate in our specimens, and the flowers 

 are borne on the upper portion of the stems and branches, and 

 thickly crowded together, usually in clusters of 3, the central 

 one being fertile, and the lateral ones changing into hooked 

 bristles, which take a firm hold of any passsing animal. This 

 plant is found in the upper as well as in the coast districts. 



Cyathula globulifera, Moq. 



A very similar plant to the last named one, and found in 

 the same situations ; the chief difference between the two to the 

 ordinary observer lies in the fact that in this case the flowers 

 which are borne at the ends of the stems and branches form 

 globose heads instead of cylindrical spikes as in the last named 

 species. These plants bear their seeds in the autumn months, 

 and I have often seen horses and cattle with their manes and 

 tails felted together in a dense mass by the fruits of these 

 plants, and can well conceive that they would be most detri- 

 mental to wool if they were allowed to spread. 



Cyathula, sp. (J. M. Wood, No. 1323). 



This plant, of which the specific name is unknown to me, 

 was collected by myself in 1881, near the Umzinyati Falls, but 

 I have not yet met with it in any other locality. It appears to 

 be the most formidable of the Natal species, as the bristles are 

 longer, stouter, and sharper than in the species above enume- 

 rated. It is therefore to be hoped that it will not be found to 

 extend to the upper districts. Its flower heads are globose like 

 those of the species last named. 



GRAMINEAB. 



Setaria verticillata, Beauv. 



A grass with culms reaching to 5 feet or more in length, 

 and ripening its seed in February or March. In this case the 

 small spikelets of the oblong panicle are each subtended by a 

 " coarse reversely scabrid bristle 2 to 7 lines long." These 

 bristles take a firm hold of the clothing or of the coats of 

 animals, and the whole panicle becomes detached, and is not 

 easily got rid of in consequence of the large number of bristles 

 in the panicles, which sometimes reach to 6 inches in length. 



