72 
In the Heart of Africa 
which recalls the colonnades of a beech forest or of a forest dome. 
To a certain extent this wood is impervious to the sun’s rays. The 
whole space from the ground to the tops of the trees is filled with 
an overwhelming mass of green; no wood is to be seen, but only 
soft, luxuriant foliage and soft, herbaceous stems. There are few 
shrubs in the true sense in the brushwood in which the younger 
branches have lignified ; on the contrary, a profusion of per¬ 
manent growths which only lignify in their main stems may be 
mentioned, among which beautiful labiatiflorous specimens such 
as Pycnosiachys are prominent. Lovely species of Vernonia with 
purple and heliotrope blossoms, reminding one of the Eufatorium 
cannabinumy large yellow Senecio and luxuriantly blooming 
acanthace^ (Mimulopsis) are often found interlaced with other 
growths, helping with their soft, sappy leaves to swell the general 
wealth of foliage. The most beautiful of the twining plants was 
probably the reversed leaf growth. Begonia Meyeri Johannis, 
named in honour of Hans Meyer, which with its shining, fleshy 
leaves and gorgeous yellow-white blooms is an ornament to the 
underwood. The most conspicuous, however, is an amaranth 
{Cy at hula spec. ?), which unfortunately I never saw in bloom; it 
forms great thickets and bowers, climbs high without being 
exactly a liana, and hangs down again in dense, broad clusters 
or festoons, making the undergrowth perfectly impenetrable. 
“ Wherever this tall brushwood leaves a little space, however, 
the ground is covered with ferns, blossoms, smaller amaranths, 
and graceful blooming Coleus and Plectranthus species. 
“ Incomparably rich and luxuriant as this forest is, it would yet 
have something oppressive about it in its exuberance if it covered 
all the hills and valleys. The chief charm of the Rugege land¬ 
scape consists rather in its variations of wood and glade, its 
grassy slopes which clothe the lower valley, its dells and dales, 
and the well-watered fens and meadows which lie alongside the 
brooks and streams. The vales and meadows as Kandt saw them 
must have an indescribable charm: when thousands of stemmed 
lobelias spring up from the grass—like gigantic candles, and the 
green valley is buried for miles under the heads of millions of 
