Some Observations on the genus At~ocnemum

Only in 1954 the notes of late Prof. Moss on the genera Arthrocnemum and Salicornia l'Tere published, and although this was a big step forward in the classification of these genera, it proved to be unsatisfactory in many cases. This, however, should not throw the work on that subject done by him into shade, as shows his ealier works ( Moss, 19lo, 1912, 1914),and only his notes published by Prof. Adamson in 1954 w·ere unfortunately fragmentary. The revision of the genus Arthrocnemum is taken up again, as so many salt m~ohes on the Cap~ Flats are drained and the rivers chanalized, sothat the number of localities are increasing rapidly, and fresh me .. terie.1 is essential for this work. The aim of this work is to cover a as large field as possible, but always with the eye on some further evidence for the taxonomy of the species. Unfortunately only a few species which are growing on the Cape Penninsula and some fresh marteria.l of A. affine from Swakopmund was available for this study. ' This gives perhaps a bit onesided view, but indications of similar problems in other species or of difficulties with expla~ining phenomena has been given for later research. Investigations were mainly done on fresh material, and dried herbarium specimen were usually only consulted for confirming certain characters found in fresh~ To aid this .it was made use of photos where ever possible, but it was found sometimes almost impossible to get clear pictures, as the flowers a---re minute and inconspicuous. For conveniance the whole treatise has been divided into three main parts: (1) The ecological part ( autecology) in which the zonation phenomenon at Miln:erton has been emphasized,, but at hte same time it gives an account of the particular habitat each species reQuires. · (2) A brief account of the anatomy especially the abnormal secondar,Y~f~ the stem and root has been given, and a discussion of the origin of the fleshy segmented branches follows. (3) Lastly the history and the distribution of the lrthole genus Arthrocnemum, and a treatise of the classification and its difficulties of the species of the Cape Peninsula is produced. This work is purely preliminary, and it is tried to get access not o.nly to the problematic taxonomy , but to an understanding of these plants as such. The author is well aware of some generalisatios or speculative assumptions, but the main point of thQs treatise is to get a new approach to that difficult group of plants, of vThich each detail seems to be worth to be recorded for later evaluation.