Abstract
THE Department of Agriculture of South Africa has recently issued twomemoirs (Nos. 3 and 4) on the botanical survey of South Africa. The former, by S. Schonland, entitled “Introduction to South African Cyperaceae,” is a systematic account of a selection of the indigenous sedges, manyof which play an important part in the prevention and cure of soil erosion, and a knowledge of which is essential in the study of the relations of sour and sweet veld. A description of the general structure of the vegetative organs, the inflorescence, the difficulties in the interpretation of which are discussed in some detail, the flower and the fruit, is followed by notes on all the South African genera, including representative species of each. The species are illustrated by seventy carefully drawn plates, which show the habit of the plant and enlarged details of flower and fruit, and will enable the student to identify any species included in the limits of the book. The general arrangement is the one adopted in the “Flora Capensis” by the late Mr. C. B. Clarke, to the thoroughness of whose work Dr. Schonland pays high tribute. The critical remarks included in the notes on the genera render the work of value to othersthan the South African student of this family.
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Botanical Surveys. Nature 112, 221–222 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/112221a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/112221a0