THE 
NEW PHYTOIiOGIST. 
Vol. V., Nos. 5 and 6 
June 30 TH, 1906 . 
SKETCHES OF VEGETATION AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
III. “The Karroo” in August. 
By F. E. Weiss, D.Sc. and R. H. Yapp, M.A. 
[Plates V., VI. and VII., and Text-Figs. 15—23]. 
CCORDING to Bolus 1 , the Karroo region of Cape Colony is 
a broad, elevated tract of country, which stretches from the 
Ceres district on the west, to nearly as far as Grahamstown on the 
east. The altitude of this area varies from about 1,800—3,000 
feet above the sea. Mountain ranges, trending east and west, 
bound the Karroo on the north and south. On the north the chief 
ranges are the Roggeveld, Nieuwveld and the Sneeuwbergen, 
while on the south are the Cederbergen, Cold Bokkeveld, Zwart- 
bergen, Baviaans Kloof-bergen, etc. 
Over the whole of this area the rainfall is small (indeed in 
some parts a whole year may occasionally pass without rain), while 
the daily range of temperature is very considerable. The severity 
of the climate, in fact, is such that the vegetation is of a desert or 
semi-desert character. 
The following sketch is intended to give our impressions of the 
Karroo vegetation, as observed by us during a brief visit of some 
three or four days to the little village of Matjesfontein in August, 
1905, just prior to the meetings of the British Association in Cape 
Town. 
Matjesfontein is situated towards the west of the Karroo area 
as defined above, or almost on the extreme west of Dr. Marloth’s 
“ Central Karroo 2 .” It is nearly 200 miles distant from Cape 
Town, some 2,970 feet above the sea, and lies on a gently undu- 
' H. Bolus. Sketch of the Floral Regions of South Africa; in 
Science in South Africa. Cape Town, 1905, p. 223. 
i R. Marloth. On the Phyto-geographical sub-divisions of South 
Africa. Brit. Association Report, South Africa, 1905. 
