Rhodesia and the Victoria Falls. 
95 
Victoria Falls. In the dry forest we picked up numerous fruits of 
Harpagophyton with their sharp recurved spines. The herbaceous 
upper part of the plant had died down, but the tuberous root no 
doubt persisted underground. On the rocky faces of the winding 
river, below the falls, the highly xerophytic Selaginella imbricata 
was very common, its frond-like branches tightly coiled up in crosier¬ 
like manner awaiting the summer rains. A few Liliace-re with hard 
resistant foliage like Aloes and Sansevierias told of the extreme 
drought for which the vegetation had for the most part prepared. But 
near the river the trees and shrubs were less strongly xerophytic 
and no doubt owed their existence in part to the moisture which 
the atmosphere must get even at a distance from the Mosi-ou-tunya, 
or the “ Smoke that sounds,” as the natives call the Victoria Falls. 
For the cloud of spray ascends a hundred feet above the top of the 
Falls and must exert some considerable effect on the humidity of the 
atmosphere. The deeper layers of the soil too, at some distance 
from the river banks, must have a sufficient store of water even in 
the dry season to supply abundant moisture to deep-rooted plants 
such as trees, even though the herbaceous plants may have died 
down. Thus one found on the banks such large trees as Rigelia 
pinnata in full foliage and with large pendant racemes of brown 
flowers that are visited by sun birds. Palms, too, such as Phoenix 
recliuata and Hyphaene, are seen on either side of the river and 
particularly in the sheltered kloofs where, with the tangle of lianes 
and ferns, they present quite a tropical aspect. Of the shrubs near 
the Zambesi a large Ipomoea was the most conspicuous, its leafless 
branches being covered with large pink flowers, while in the slow 
flowing water above the falls grew tall Papyrus plants and the 
aquatic Jussieua. 
In great contrast to the absence of herbaceous plants in flower 
in the dry forests during the prevailing drought, was the abundance 
of small plants in active vegetation and in flower on the small rocky 
islands which break the long line of the Falls. Here, surrounding 
the trees in the centre of the island, is a well-watered and in some 
parts even boggy expanse covered with grass and numerous small 
herbaceous plants. 
Most conspicuous by its large mauve coloured flowers on a 
slender inflorescence was Rhamphicarpa tubulosa (Scroph- 
ulariaceae), while in the moister parts small yellow and purple 
Bladderworts (Utricularia) and a short Pipewort ( Eriocaulon ) were 
very common. Those unfamiliar with tropical vegetation were 
