t 312 ] 



Some of the firft Cape of Good Hope plants that 

 were brought to Europe^ we owe to J. Heurnius^ 

 who fent them to his brother, a profeflbr at Ley^ 

 den \ and they are figured in Bodeus d Stapel's Theo- 

 fhrajlus^ p. 3:^3 among thefe were the Indian 

 Reed, (Canna Indica)^ the H^manthus Coccineus, 

 Stapelia^ the Aletris Uvaria^ and a few others. 

 But the firft botanift who vifited the Cafe was Paul 

 Herman j he colleded 800 fpecies, then unknown 

 in Europe : after him H, B, Oldenland, a Dane, and 

 y. Hartog^ a Dutchman, both made coUedions of 

 African plants, which at length falhng into the 

 hands of the prefent able profeflbr of botany at 

 Amfierdam^ Dr. John Burman, he publifhed en- 

 gravings of ten decads of the more rare kinds. 

 From thefe materials chiefly the prefent Flora is 

 compofed, according to the ufuai plan, with the 

 trivial names only. 



Among the plants of the Cape, there are 38 

 genera peculiar to that part of the world, feveral 

 of which excel all others in the number of fpecies, 

 3swell as in their uncommon and fuperb appearance. 

 The vaft number of fpecies under the fame genus, 

 fo frequently met with in that country, ftrongly 

 favours the idea of the perpetual new origin of 

 plants ; and thar many, which elfewhere are only 

 hybrid, there propagate and become permanent. 

 But Caffraria^ beyond all other countries, abounds 

 v/ith extenfive genera of plants : the fucculent 

 kinds, particularly, cover the fandy foil, where 

 pothing but the fad could convince us that vege- 

 tation would in any degree fucceed. Such are the 



