164 



The Plant World 



stimulus produced in each case the same response as before. 

 The plant grows in a shady place and receives plenty of moisture, 

 which has considerably postponed its flowering period, and 

 elongated its young joints. The same conditions may perhaps 

 bring about more active responses than would be the case if 

 the plant were growing in the open under natural conditions. 



BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE. 



One of the most noteworthy recent contributions in plant 

 geography is a volume on the Cape * by Dr. R. Marloth, with 

 sections by the late A. F. W. Schimper. 



The area embraced is that southward from the southern 

 edge of the Kalahari desert at 27 degrees south latitude, one of 

 the most diversified parts of the African continent. The treat- 

 ment is such as to convey a vivid picture of the vegetation, to 

 give details as to the gross anatomy of the characteristic species, 

 to throw light upon the relationships of the flora and to correlate 

 the vegetation with climatic and soil conditions as far as this is 

 possible in covering so large an area in which the physical 

 features are so little known. 



Scattered bodies of evergreen broad-leaf forest occur along 

 the extreme southern coast of the Cape and on the southward 

 flanks of the mountains at the interior, being limited to localities 

 with 30 to 36 inches of rain. Many of the groups of plants pe- 

 culiar to the Cape or common to Australia are found in the rain 

 forests, where there is a rich assemblage of trees, notably species 

 of Olea, Gonioma and Podocarpus, together with tree ferns, 

 lianes, epiphytic orchids and ferns. 



The greater part of the Cape region proper is covered by two 

 scrub or bush formations, the Rhenoster and the Maquis. The 

 former is chiefly made up of low bushes, prominent among which 

 are the Rhenoster (Elytropappus) and species of Cliff ortia and 

 Metalasia, while the Maquis is a mixture of bushes and small 

 trees, species of Olea, Leucodendron and Protea. There are sev- 

 eral types of Maqufs, but the whole area of these two bush forma- 



*Das Kapland, insbesondere das Reich der Kapflora, das Waldgebiet und die 

 Karroo, pflanzengeographisch dargestellt. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen 

 Tiefsee-Expedition. Bd. II., Th. 3., 436 pp. 146 text figs., 8 maps, 20 heliogravure plates. 

 Jena, Gustav Fischer. 



