Trees of South Africa

(Cape Town: A. A. Balkema, 1961). 4to; original dark green cloth, lettered in gilt on spine and with gilt publisher's monogram to upper cover; no dustwrapper; tinted top edge; pp. 352, incl. index; folding map of 'The Indigenous High Forest of South Africa'; plates, incl. colour; line drawings depicting leaves and fruit. Very good condition. 'South Africa possesses one of the most magnificent floras in the world, yet the tree life has gone comparatively unnoticed. This is the stranger when one considers what riches it contains, from the soft silver and the classic shape of the silver tree of the Cape to the baobab, that ancient and dramatic guardian of our northern boundary. ... This is the first book to be published on the indigenous trees of South Africa as a whole. It is not a book for botanists only - although the botanical facts have been carefully checked. Rather it is a book for the layman and for all those with little knowledge of botany who are yet interested in South Africa's beautiful and varied tree life. One hundred and seventy trees are described in detail - their distribution, habit, foliage, flower, fruit, and timber properties, but, because trees have their own personalities as living things, their "characters", too, are outlined, where possible - their likes and dislikes, their idiosyncrasies, their uses, the legend and story that surround them.' .