ARCTOTIS MIRABILIS, DUMMER. 



8l 



ARCTOTIS JdlRABI LIS, DtJMMER (sp. nov.). 

 By R. A. DuMMER, F.R.H.S. 



It has been averred hy some that South Africa is devoid of indigenous 

 annuals, but whoever has chanced to display an interest in the flora 

 of that region knows this to be fallacious and accredits such state- 

 ments to armchair philosophers. Indeed, even on the Cape Peninsula, 

 where the shrubby vegetation is pre-eminent, Dimorphoiheca annua 

 in its myriads clothes the slopes of Signal Hill, and in spring invests 

 them with a snowy covering noticeable from a distance of several 

 miles. Cenia species, small and of httle fioricultural interest, many 

 Nemesias, Senecios, Heliophilas, Wahlenbergias, Chironias, and Bel- 

 montias, some of singular beauty and charm, the ubiquitous Drosera 

 cistifiora, ids outvieing any of the British species in elegance and 

 in the size of its flowers — all in their respective seasons add much 

 to the beauty and interest of the vegetation. 



So also Grammanthes gentianoides in its thousands adds gold to 

 the Muizenberg, whose slopes meet the lapping waters of False Bay, 

 while Mesembryanthemum criniflorum, as lowly as the preceding, but 

 with flowers larger than a half-crown piece, of a pure white which 

 gradually merges to a lovely pink, does much to beautify the otherwise 

 arid localities. 



It is; however, in the western region of Cape Colony, especially 

 in Little Namaqualand, where this type of vegetation is most pro- 

 nounced, where with the first spring rains the annuals spring up "as 

 if in the night," and clothe veldt, kopje, and valley with a gorgeous 

 and varicoloured mantle, which unhappily too soon is followed by 

 a desolation most profound — when every sign of vegetation virtually 

 disappears — the effects of the succeeding intense drought. As 

 Marloth well described it in his fascinating " Das Kapland " : " Much 

 exposed rock and sand obtains, besides innumerable shrubs, herbs; 

 and grasses, as also bulbous plants. True, the greater part of the 

 time Httle of the latter are visible, but in spring, especially in August 

 and September, they carpet the whole land in gorgeous hues. Particu- 

 larly prevalent are Composites, Scrophulariaceous members, Crucifersy 

 and Mesembryanths. Many Arctotis, Gazania, and Gorteria species 

 possess flower-heads double the size of an ordinary Calendula, and; 

 moreover; often flaunt their beauty in three distinct colours. Mile 

 upon mile — a blaze of colour, preponderatingly yellow, red or orange, 

 but also white or blue harmoniously blending — here and there replaced 

 by stretches of the gently waving grass Stipa tortilis, or yellow-flowering 

 stands of Euphorbia mauritanica." Now this region, though traversed 

 by the intrepid pioneers and naturalists Drege and Burchell and 



* Species nova, distinctissima, capituUs majusculis , 

 VOL. XL. G 



