IOI 



Plate 1 7 . 

 Fam. 2. Taxaceae. 



A. Podocarpus latifolius (Thunb.) R. Br. 

 i. Seedling. 



2. Seedling with its 2 cotyledons and 3 pairs of leaves; the tap-root with young 

 tubercles of mycorhiza. 



3. Flowering twig of male plant. 



4. Fruiting twig of female plant with patches of Corynelia. 



5. Longitudinal section of podocarpium with pseudofruit. 



/^podocarpium; s, shell of pseudofruit, derived from the epimatium; t, testa; 

 e, endosperm ; em, embryo. 



6. Rootlet of tree with mycorhiza. 



7. Transverse section of one half of the leaf. The yellow parts are the fibrous 

 sclerenchyma (tracheids). 



Fam. 3. Pinaceae. 



B. Widdringtonia* juniperoides (L.) Endl. The Clanwilliam cypress. 



1. Twig with a few ripe cones, one of the open cones showing the seeds in position. 



2. Seed. 



3. Seedling. 



C. W. cupressoides (L.) Endl. " gapreehoutf from "cipres." (Fig. 67 b, page 106.) 



D. W. Schwarzii (Marl.) Mast. Seed. 



Podocarpus latifolius^, the true yellowwood {regie geelhout) and 

 P. elongatus, the Outeniqua yelloivwood, are the two largest forest trees of 

 South Africa and supply nearly one half of all the indigenous timber produced. 

 Both occur in all the forests, but P. elongatus, which is the larger of the two, 

 forms only one per cent, of the trees in them, although it is often called 

 the common yellowwood, while P. latifolius represents about 10 per cent. 

 Unfortunately all the more easily accessible trees have been felled by the 

 woodcutters, but in some remote parts of the Eastern or Zitzikamma forests 

 one may still find giants of P. elongatus 140 feet high, with a clean bole of 

 50 to 60 feet and a trunk of 10 feet in diameter, the crown often thickly 

 covered with lichens (Usnea barbata, the "old man's beard"). See Plates 13 

 and 18. 



Widdringtonia juniperoides, the Clanwilliam cypress, sometimes called a 

 cedar (cederbooni), is a noble tree, which grows only on the range of mountains 

 that has taken its name from it (Plate 19). The wood is beautifully grained 

 and fragrant and well suited for all kinds of ornamental furniture, but, owing 

 to the reckless felling of all more easily accessible trees in past times, little 

 such timber is available at present. The pews in the little church at 

 Clanwilliam are all made of this wood and are probably unique in this respect. 



The attempts to cultivate the tree in regular plantations near its native 

 haunts as well as at Tokai on the Cape Peninsula have not been quite successful 

 as yet, probably because the localities, although possessing sufficient moisture 



* Named after Capt. Widdrington, R.N. Died in 1856. 



j" This name must have the preference over the more familiar one P. Thunbergii, for 

 Thunberg had originally described this plant as Taxus latifolia (1794), while Hooker's 

 name was established only in 1842. 



