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Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
Oxalis has tuberous roots. 
G-eophytes may naturally be subdivided on the basis of the various types 
of storage organ, and each type is well represented in Natal, as has just 
been shown. 
It is interesting also to note that certain species of Dioscorea, As^mragus, 
Smilax, Behnia, and various Asclepiads are climbing Phanerophytes, and, at 
the same time, G-eophytes. This is, of course, a different thing from the 
case of species such as Helen streitia, etc., which sometimes occur as 
Chamaephytes or Hemicryptophytes, and, given other conditions, occur as 
Therophytes (Annuals). 
If, as indicated above, we group together the Hemicryptophytes and 
G-eophytes, we find that no fewer than 800 species of these belong to the 
seven natural orders — Compositae, G-ramineae, Asclepiadaceae, Orchidaceae, 
Liliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Irideae ; and these all occupy the same habitat — 
the veld — ^and most of them flower about the same time. 
The extraordinary profusion of flowers in the veld in early spring, and 
especially of representatives of those natural orders, is a fact which is never 
forgotten by the botanist who has once seen it. Not oiily is the number of 
species large, but many of them are found all over the country, and the type 
must be held to constitute a very important part of the vegetation of Natal. 
HELOPHYTES. 
Helophytes, or marsh plants, occur in the numerous Yleis. As has been 
shown in former papers, the Yleis of Natal can be graded according to 
(1) the amount of water; (2) the degree of stagnation of the water. There 
are also all gradations between veld and vlei, and certain species — e.g. 
Tambootie grass (Andropogon nardus var. marginatus) — occur either in veld 
or vlei. It therefore becomes a matter of some difficulty to determine which 
of such intermediate species are to be assigned to the present class, and 
which to the class already dealt with. 
The Cyperaceae are, on the .whole, mostly vlei plants, but a number- 
included above among the Hemicryptophytes — grow in the veld. 
The class, Helophytes, it must be remembered, does not include all the 
so-called marsh plants. Some of the marsh Cyperaceae are annuals (Thero- 
phytes), and other plants which are typically found in the vleis are shrubs 
(Phanerophytes) or bulbous Monocotyledons (G-eophytes). The class, 
Helophytes, is composed of perennial marsh plants, usually with creeping 
rhizomes, which have their renewal buds in the mud. 
The total number of Helophytes is cir. 143 (including 81 Cyperaceae). 
Of these only 26 are Dicotyledons. There is no necessity in such a uniform 
and small class for any further subdivision. The bulk of them are sedges. 
