In article ,
"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:

[snip]

Phred schreef
One of the big differences I noticed between the thorn-veldt of S.
Africa and a similar low vegetation in SW Madagascar was the
relative absence of thorny species in the latter superficially similar
looking communtities. (With the notable exception of the strange
_Didieria madagascariensis_ !)

As a top of the head interpretation, I assumed it was the lack of the
typical African grazing herds in Madagascar that resulted in a much
more friendly vegetation for collectors in shorts. :-)

+ + +
That seems to be the consensus opinion.

However Didieraceae ('Madagascar cacti') contains some four genera with ca
ten species, not just the one species. These should all be pretty
weird-looking.

I probably only really noticed the tall species fairly common around
Tulear -- well, I assumed it was all one species -- and it was
certainly pretty weird.

One of these days, if I ever get round to my threatened task of
scanning many of my Kodachromes, and if I ever also get round to
setting up a web page, I might be able to put up a few images of such
things when they get mentioned around here. But, please, no one hold
your breath.


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID