vi PREFACE 



While the lower plants are treated briefly only as an 

 introduction to the study of the vegetable kingdom, the 

 higher plants, from liverworts upwards, are dealt with 

 more in detail, a complete synoptieal table of the genera 

 of each family being given. When the book is complete 

 these synoptical tables, now seattered through the four 

 volumes, will be re-issued together as an appendix for 

 the use of the student in the herbarium as well as in the 

 field. 



In the North the Tropie of Caprieorn is roughly 

 adopted as our boundary, starting on the West Coast near 

 Walhseh Bay and traversing German South-West Afriea 

 and Bechuanaland until the line reaches the Limpopo. 

 In order not to exclude that portion of the Transvaal 

 which is situated within the Tropics, the Limpopo is 

 followed to its mouth at about the 25th degree of latitude. 

 As in all floral delimitations based on geographical 

 boundaries one does not obtain a natural botanical 

 province in this way, but the scope of the book would 

 have to be extended considerably, if one attempted to 

 include Rhodesia and other regions situated between the 

 Limpopo and the Zambesi. In a few instances specially 

 remarkable plants from those districts have been mentioned. 



An account of the botanical provinces of South Afriea 

 will be given in the supplementary volume. 



The originals of the coloured plates, with few ex- 

 ceptions, have been painted at Capetown from living 

 plants, principally by Miss Ethel Dixie of Claremont, 

 Miss Esther Smith (Port Elizabeth), Miss Florence 

 Thwaits, formerly of Wellington, Miss M. Franks (Durban) 

 and Mr P. McManus (Capetown). The name of the artist 

 is given on each plate; often, however, two or three 

 of them share in the production of one plate, for as 

 the fresh material became available only from time to 

 time, five or more years have sometimes elapsed between 

 the painting of the first and the last figure of a plate. 



