Abstract
I. HE Percy Sladen Memorial Expedition was the outcome of a repent study of Welwitschia, that most remarkable of West African plants. Its primary object was the investigation of the biology and morphology of Gnetum africanum, the only immediate relative of Welwitschia known to occur south of the Congo. It was further proposed to examine, so far as circumstances would allow, the flora of the desert-belt and of the regions adjacent to it. The expedition was under the auspices of the trustees of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund, and was assisted by a grant of 2ooL from the Royal Society. During the first section of the journey (Cape Town to Luderitzbucht) I was fortunately able to travel in company with the magnetic survey expedition of the Carnegie Institute under my colleague, Dr. J, C. Beattie. A saving of half the ordinary cost of transport was thus effected. The route followed was very largely determined by the distribution of the usually widely separated water-holes. What would certainly have proved a very interesting part of the journey (viz. from Keetmanshoep to Windhuk) had to be abandoned owing to the necessity of arriving in central Angola before the end of the season in which suitable stages of the ovules of Gnetum were likely to be obtainable.
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PEARSON, H. Percy Sladen Memorial Expedition in South-west Africa, 1908–9. Nature 81, 466–467 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/081466a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/081466a0