11 o F. E. Weiss and R. H. Yapp. 
network of axes and fruit-remains may afford some protection to 
the young developing leaves of the plant (for C. reticulata, like the 
other two species, periodically sheds its leaves), from the intense 
direct illumination of the desert sun. 1 
The genus Crassula was also much in evidence. Crassula 
pyramidalis is a dwarf form with numerous closely imbricated 
leaves, surmounted hy a tuft of sweet-scented white flowers. Its 
local name of “shaving-brush” gives a good idea of the general 
appearance of the plant when in flower. 
C. columnaris is a shorter and broader form, whose pebble-like 
appearance, and dull colouration, have given rise to the suggestion 
that it may be protected from herbivorous animals by its close 
resemblance to rounded stones. 2 C. lycopodioidcs has, as its name 
suggests, a habit resembling that of some Lycopodia. Another 
Crassula (C. monticola ?) was a woody shrub, with thick button-like 
leaves. Several other species of Crassula, and amongst them one 
or two new species, were found ; one of the latter was apparently 
an annual, with a pair of large flat leaves, growing amongst mosses 
and liverworts in a few shady, sheltered spots. 
Fig. 21. Root of Crassula sp. 
The roots of all the Karroo Crassulaceae which we examined, 
had one striking feature in common. As seen with the naked eye, 
1 Cf. the “ parahcliodes ” of Darbishire. Observations on 
Mamillaria elougata, Annals of Botany, 1904, Vol. XVIII., 
p. 404. 
2 R. Marloth. Trans. S. Afr. Phil. Soc., 1905, p. 165. Cf. also 
descriptions and photographs of S. African species of Mesern- 
brianthemum, etc., which are said to show protective adapta¬ 
tions, in a paper by Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, Ann. of Botany, 
1906, Vol. XX., pp. 126, et seq. 
