A CAPE GrAEDEN. 



65 



of its timber, which is used largely for bedroom furniture. It grows in 

 the native forests to an immense size, and if planted singly on the lawn 

 so as to develop its lateral branches regularly, it forms a very handsome tree. 

 Next in beauty I should place the Harpephyllum caffrum, popularly 

 known as the ' Kaffir Plum,' from the red stone-fruit which it bears. 

 The leaves are of a very dark glossy green when mature, the new growth 

 being of a terra-cotta red. and, when allowed free growth away from other 

 trees, it assumes a beautiful spheroidal habit. 



Calodendrum capensis, as its name denotes, is another beautiful 

 forest tree with dark glossy foliage and lovely feathery pink flowers. I 

 have rarely seen a forest tree with such attractive showy blossoms, 

 which single it out from a distance as the most beautiful amongst its 

 compeers. 



Then follow: Leucadendron argenteum, well known and very popular 

 as the ' Silver Tree,' which one could easily imagine to have been a cross 

 between the GonifercB and the Proteacce, whose glossy leaves glisten in the 

 sunlight and are largely used for all sorts of pretty baskets, hats, book- 

 markers, and various other descriptions of ornamental work. This tree is 

 most arbitrary in the choice of its habitat, being hardly if ever found 

 away from the slopes of Table Mountain, and even there it is not found 

 above or below a certain altitude. Many and many a time have I heard 

 of the seeds being planted in other parts of the world, but I have never 

 heard of any tree reaching maturity. 



Next comes the Erythrina caffra, the tree-form which reaches an 

 altitude of 30 to 40 feet, and whose coral-like red blooms, so well 

 known to you, need no description. Then there are the 1 Assegai Tree,' 

 with wood like the Hickory, and used largely by the Kaffirs for their 

 assegais or javelins ; the ' Sneeze-wood Tree,' with Mimosa-like foliage, 

 one of the hardiest of our colonial woods, used largely for railway 

 sleepers ; the well-known thorny Mimosa, an Acacia with round, yellow, 

 fluffy blossoms, which grows throughout South Africa, lining the kloofs 

 and ravines and forming impenetrable hiding-places for the Boers during 

 the war ; then there are trees known by the popular names of ' Saffron- 

 wood,' 'Milk-wood,' 'Black-bark,' and many others which time does not 

 allow me to describe more fully, for I must mention a few of our most 

 striking flowering shrubs, such as Pavetta caffra, with snow-white 

 flowers, which was figured in the Garden a few months ago ; Pavetta 

 Burchelli, with glossy leaves and orange-red blossoms ; Tecoma capensis, 

 now well known in«England ; Plumbago capensis, in blue and white 

 varieties, which are largely used for avenues and enliven many of our 

 country lanes ; Dais cotinifolia, with its delicate lilac-coloured blossoms; 

 Greyia Sutherland}, with its Geranium-like foliage and corymbs of rich 

 red blossoms ; Erythrina caffra, dwarf forms, in three distinct varieties ; 

 Toxicoplilcea, with heavy trusses of highly scented white flowers and 

 purple berries ; Agathosma hispida, syn. Diosma capensis, with highly 

 scented white flowers; Bauhinia.Galpini, with mauve-coloured flowers ; 

 i and its Natal brother, whose flowers are snowy white ; the Asystasia bclla, 

 syn. Mackaya bella, with its unique pale lavender trusses of bloom ; and 

 many others whose names I do not for the moment remember. 



The transition from Cape shrubs to Cape bulbs is easy, for in 



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