Page sixty-eight 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
July, 1952 
dendrons , Pelargonium, Ericas , Psoralea , 
Poly gala, Stapelias and a host of others 
and wished that these plants too would 
more readily adopt the free growth with 
which some of their now unwanted com- 
patriots have made. The books mentioned 
above are worthy of notice, if however, for 
no other reason than they are notable con- 
tributions to botanical literature dealing 
with plants as unique as those of Australia. 
“Wild Flowers of the Cape of Good 
Elope ” by Rice 8c Compton, and published 
by the Botanical Society of South Africa 
is one of the most beautifully produced 
books dealing with this type of work which 
the reviewer has seen for a long time. This 
book has an extremely useful introduction, 
included in which are details of the affini- 
ties and geographical distribution of the 
Cape plants, including localities, habitats 
and flowering periods of these, nomencla- 
tural problems and notes relating to the 
use of common and scientific names; 
while not the least interesting- — and to 
members of our Section probably the most 
important — are details regarding the pro- 
tection given to the native vegetation. The 
major portion of this volume is however 
taken up by full page (8” x 6”) colour 
plates of some of the most interesting and 
beautiful examples of the South African 
plants. 
Usually only one species is depicted in 
each plate, but in some two, whilst 
in the case of Ericas, a dozen or 
more species are illustrated per plate. 
In all 250 plates are published, 
giving in all a total of between 
300 and 350 species. A small number you 
may say for a region which although small 
can boast of over 2,500 indigenous species! 
But surely this small member of colour 
illustrations is better than the almost com- 
plete absence of such a publication, for 
such is our lot — at least at the present 
time — in South Australia. The artist — Mrs. 
Garrett Rice has — as Professor R. H. 
Compton, Director of the Kirstenbosch 
Botanical Gardens, and co-author of this 
book truly said — “Laboured with great 
patience, accuracy and long skill and pro- 
duced a series of paintings which are use- 
ful to the botanist, the gardener, natura- 
list or to those who simply enjoy beauty.” 
Naturally we find many of our “weeds” 
and garden favourites depicted therein, 
whilst the amateur botanist — and gardener 
— will find this publication of use in assist- 
ing with the identification of discoveries 
made within the cultivated areas of this 
State. The text of the book is well written 
and set in clear and easily read type. The 
blocks are really excellent and show only 
too well that we have by no means intro- 
duced from this region all its beauties! As 
it is produced under the aegis of what we 
could almost call a “sister society” it shows 
what can be achieved if we are really 
anxious to have something done! 
“Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula ” 
by Mary Kidd, with descriptive text by 
Captain T. M. Salter is less pretentious but 
in some ways a more satisfactory book. 
There are 94 coloured plates illustrating 
some 800 species, so that it is complement- 
ary but mainly supplementary to the previ- 
ous book. Opposite each plate is a brief but 
concise description of the plants, whilst 
major headings and sub-headings indicate 
the habitats (marsh, sea, bush, shady 
places etc.) and flowering times of the 
plant. The book is set up as a calendar 
year thus assisting in the identification, for 
nearly all the plates comprise a number 
of unrelated species, excepting some Prota- 
ceae and Ericas, thus making determina- 
tions easier. 
As a great number of our weeds hailing 
from South Africa are shown, this book is 
likely to be of greater use and value to the 
botanist in South Australia than the first 
volume. Whilst the crowded appearance of 
some plates rather detract from the whole, 
the book is excellently produced and the 
block makers have faithfully carried out 
what was obviously a hard task. The de- 
scriptions are brief but adequate, whilst 
the introduction and map make it a most 
useful publication. Its size — 9” x 6” per- 
mits it to fit easily into an outside coat 
pocket and thus it is possible to use it for 
field identifications — the ultimate for any 
book dealing with plants, animals or 
insects. 
“The Flora of the Cape Peninsula ” by 
Adamson and Salter, is as the name indi- 
cates a “botanical flora” in the accepted 
sense of the word. A massive volume, con- 
taining . about half as many pages again 
as Black’s Flora of South Australia, and of 
the same format size, although it lacks the 
helpful and accurate sketches which are so 
