486 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCTETY. 



Vegetation of Africa. By A. Engler {Die Vegetation der Erde, 

 pt. ix., 1908). — The history of botanical exploration in Africa still awaits 

 its chronicler, but when it is written it will be a romance of endurance and 

 courage under great difficulties. Fifty years ago little was known of the 

 continent as a whole, although a considerable number of plants had found 

 their way into European herbaria, and even into our gardens and con- 

 servatories from the coastal regions — the Cape district of South Africa, 

 the Atlas and other parts of Northern Africa, including Egypt, Nubia, 

 and Abyssinia. Little, however, was known of tropical Africa except 

 Senegambia and some other parts of the coast, especially the west. 

 The scramble for African territory by the European nations towards the 

 close of last century opened up a new chapter in botanical investiga- 

 tion, *as each nation with more or less zeal encouraged exploration of 

 its new domains. The Germans, particularly, made great advances in 

 botanical exploration, no doubt spurred on by Dr. Engler, the author of 

 this memoir, and Director of the great Imperial Botanic Garden and 

 Herbarium near Berlin. Our own nation has not altogether neglected 

 investigating the resources of its territories, and descriptive works like 

 Sir H. Johnston's Uganda have added much to our geographical litera- 

 ture. But the flora and vegetation per se have attracted only a limited 

 number of botanists, amongst others G. F. Scott Elliot. This cannot 

 oe because our possessions are less suitable, for in most cases they 

 adjoin the German colonies, and are more extensive. Engler remarks 

 that, had one set out to select centres for the scientific investigation of 

 Africa, one could hardly have found better situations than the 

 Oameroons and Togo on the West Coast, German East Africa, and I 

 the " greatly under-estimated " German South-west Africa. \ 



During these recent years, the efforts of botanical explorers, aided ; 

 by resident officials, have so greatly added to the known plants of ' 

 Africa, that the early volumes of the Flora of Tropical Africa," begun | 

 at Kew in 1868, contain only about half the species now known. Even j 

 the later work on East Africa (1895) prepared in Berlin, includes only j 

 about two-thirds of the number of plants which could now be recorded. , 

 Dr. Engler has undertaken his memoir on the ground of this recent 

 progress, and, although the available information is still somewhat 

 fragmentary, enough is known to warrant an attempt to survey the , 

 vegetation. The proposed memoir is to consist of five volumes: — ' 



Vol. I. — General survey of the vegetation of Africa as a whole; the j 

 conditions of its existence, including geographical, geological, 

 climatic and soil conditions; the Flora, its regions and con- 

 stituents (see above). j 



Vols. II. m. IV. — An illustrated handbook of the natural orders, j 

 genera, and important species. | 



Vol. V. — Description of the vegetation-formations and the floral i 

 \ ^ provinces of tropical Africa, to include a history of botanical 

 exploration, and the history of the development of the Flora 

 of Africa. , j 



The issue of Volume ii. as the first one of the projected series thus 



