NOTES ON PELARGONIUMS. 
• 39 
Now, in most extensive countries where the seasons are marked 
more by rain and drought than by heat and cold, there are places 
which are seasonal, and others which are not. Some plants are 
adapted to the one of these, some to the other, and some to both. 
Of the last some are hard-wooded and some soft-wooded shrubs ; 
and even in the most tropical climates, the very same species may 
be found naked on the parched plain, and in all the luxuriance 
s. 
of its foliage by the bank of the perennial stream. 
Pelargoniums are soft-wooded shrubs of this description. They 
are not tropical plants, for the whole 558 species, including 
hvbrids and their endless varieties, are natives of the Cape 
Colony, with the exception of two or three from other parts of 
Africa, about the same number from the Canary Islands, and one 
from Tristan d’Acunha, which is in a still higher latitude than 
the Cape. The latitude of the Cape answers to that of Barbary 
and Syria ; and though, upon the margins of the desert there, 
the vegetation is seasonal, yet, where there is sufficient mois¬ 
ture, it is ever-green and almost ever-growing. This is, in fact, 
the intermediate latitude, between the tropical and the tempe¬ 
rate,—between the winter of drought and the winter of cold ; 
and in so far as the solar action and its distribution are concerned, 
the tendency is to perennial verdure ; and there are many of the 
plants that die down or become leafless on the arid places, that 
would have very different characters if transplanted to the humid 
ones. The currents of the atmosphere, and the character of the 
surface and soil, may occasion great modifications ; but wherever 
there is the proper supply of moisture, vegetation is always true 
to the degree and distribution of the solar energy. 
It is precisely the same with the Cape Colony. The violent 
drought of the south-east monsoon, and the deluging rain of the 
north-west, give it a highly seasonal character in all exposed 
places ; but uniformity of seasons is its essential character, as 
depending on the sun. It follows, as matter of natural conse¬ 
quence, that this also should be the essential character of its 
leading vegetation. By the banks of the seasonal torrent on the 
Karoo, the Pelargoniums have thin leaves, and suspend their 
growth during the extreme drought ; but bring them to the 
moist places, and they would be ever-green, and nearly ever¬ 
growing ; and this last is really their natural situation. 
It is true that, toward the end of the dry season, their growth 
