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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol, 8, No. 3 



lectors than any other part of the Protectorate, and by this time it might be 

 expected that the flora is fairly well known. The "Mananja Hills" gatherings 

 of Kirk, Meller, and others, came from the Shire Highlands, as did the bulk of 

 Buchanan's and Mrs. Benson's plants, to mention only a few of the more important 

 collections. 



The area consists of attractive ridgy Brachystegia-Orher- Species woodland 

 country, and is heavily populated, especially in the neighborhood of Blantyre. 

 The high Zomba plateau or upland, and Mlanje Mountain, rise from its edges. 

 Elsewhere, isolated rocky-topped mountains, sharp pointed or with small plateaux 

 on their tops, rise to elevations of up to 5,000 feet or more above sea level and 

 bear patches and gully strips of dark closed forest and brushwood about their 

 summits. On the highest of these mountains, Chiradzulu (5,300 feet), Alexander 

 Whyte made plant collections in the 1890's. 



The demand for land for cultivation by the very numerous native population 

 (over 200 to the square mile in some sections), has led bit by bit to what amounts 

 to virtual removal of the woodland vegetation from land that is suitable or avail- 

 able for cropping. In the aggregate, however, a considerable amount of woodland 

 survives, on apparently fertile soils perhaps without water or on land owned by 

 European interests, as well as on the poorer slopes of ridges and mountains. 

 These woodlands show marked local variation in type and floristics, and with 

 brushy evergreen growths found on rocky ridges, strips of depauperate rain forest 

 along some streams, and the small closed forests of the mountain tops, the area 

 is rich in species of plants. 



When we arrived in this part of the country late in May, the stalks were dry in 

 the maize patches of the natives and most of the crop had been harvested and 

 stored in the straggling villages and hamlets of mud-walled and grass-thatched 

 huts. The roads were already dusty. Everywhere the red soil looked dry and hard. 

 Small patches of grass had been burned. But in general the tall bunch grasses re- 

 mained green in their lower parts though browning on top and ripening seed, and 

 numerous Compositae, Labiatae, and other herbs were flowering in the grass. 

 Most of the woodland trees were in fruit at that time, but few bore flowers. 



Records for the period 1892-1916 indicate an average annual rainfall of 49.1 

 inches at Blantyre, 55.58 inches at Zomba; mean Fahrenheit temperature at Zomba 

 67.1°, and absolute maximum and minimum 102° and 41° respectively (Hornby 

 1933). Climate and soils are suited to a wide variety of crops, and cattle do well 

 on the Shire Highlands. Tobacco, tung, and upland cotton are grown successfully 

 as plantation subjects. Food crops of the natives, in addition to maize or mealies, 

 the main staple, include Kaffir corn, various beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, Irish 

 potatoes, pumpkins, pigeon peas and bananas. Also commonly grown in native 

 or European gardens are peas, cabbage, tomatoes, strawberries, papayas, mangoes 

 and citrus fruits. Most of the common annuals of temperate climates can be seen 

 growing with tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs in the ornamental plantings 

 of European gardens. Plantations of Eucalyptus saligna show very good growth. 



Zomba Plateau, This is the best known of the isolated uplands of the Pro- 

 tectorate which in their relatively cool and moist environmental conditions, and 

 their flora, provide striking contrasts with the rest of the country. Plants were 

 collected here by Kirk in 1859, plants and birds by Whyte in 1891, and other 

 early collectors, including Buchanan, visited the plateau. The collections of the 

 Vernay Expedition, made from May 28 to June 10, totalled 288 numbers. 



Zomba Mountain is a prominent intrusion of syenite, about 12 miles long and 

 up to 5 miles wide, rising to a maximum height of 6,647 feet from the northern end 

 of the Shire Highlands and the eastern rim of the Rift Valley, its steep sides cul- 



