CHAP. XV BOTANICAL ZONES 283 



slopes of Kenya, of the uplands of Kikuyu, and of the summit 

 of the scarp of Mau, belong to a fourth zone, corresponding 

 less exactly to the geographical division, which includes the 

 chain of volcanic mountains. Above this there are four 

 other zones, the limits of which are due in the main to tem- 

 perature and moisture. The botanical zones are therefore 

 as follows :— 



Zone. Characterised by 



1. Coastal Plain . . Palms, mangroves, etc. 



2. Foot-hills . . . Fruit-trees and herbs of species common 



round shores of Indian Ocean. 



3. Nyika .... Acacia scrub, succulent trees and herbs. 



4. Rangatan . . . Flowers and shrubs allied to those of Abys- 



sinia and the Cape. 



5. Mountain Forest . . Podocarpus, junipers, blackberries, stinging 



nettles, etc. 



6. Bamboo . . . Dense thickets of bamboo. 



7. Lower Alpine . . Tree heaths. Gladiolus, Alcheniilla, and a 



tree lobelia (Z. deche7iii). 



8. Upper Alpine . . Tree groundsels, tree lobelias, and heaths. 



9. Snow-fields . . .A few Helichrysian and lichens.^ 



I. Tlie Coast Zone. — The Coast Zone contains most novelties 

 to the European visitor. Its most characteristic plants are the 

 palms and the mangroves. The prevalent species of the former 

 on the sandhills of the coast, and in the plantations of the 

 Arab merchants, is the Coco-Nut Palm {Cocos nucifera, Linn.), 

 which is to the East African what the reindeer is to the Lapp. 

 He feeds on its nut and leaf-buds, drinks its milk and sap, and 

 lives in huts made from its timber and leaves. He weaves its 

 fibres into cloth, or twists it into rope, and makes the shells of 

 the nuts into spoons and ladles ; while he derives his main 

 income from the export of the dried kernel or " kopra." 



^ Since this chapter was written, Engler has published a detailed memoir (" Ueber 

 die Gliederung der Vegetation von Usambara und der angrenzenden Gebiete," Phys. 

 Abh. k. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1894 (1895), PP- 1-86) on the distribution of the plants in 

 part of German East Africa, which he divides into eight zones. The correspondence of 

 these zones to those here adopted is shown by the following table : — 



I. Coast Land . . . • ) /- . 1 t-.i • 



Coastal Plam. 



Foot-hills. 



2. Creek Zone .... 



3. Bushland of the Jur,assic Rocks 



4. Nyika ..... 



5. Bushy Steppes of the Vorland . 



6. Tropical Mountain Forest 



7. Parts of higher uplands with few or "1 „ 



^ \ Rangatan. 



no trees ..... J *= 



8. High Mountain Forests . . . Mountain Forest Zone. 



Nyika (zones 5 and 6 being regarded as 

 fertile parts of the great Nyika plains). 



