170 



RUWENZOEI AND ITS SNOWS 



parts of Ruwenzoii are the lobelias. These are of two kinds, and are so 

 utterly distinct one from the other in form that no one but a botanist 

 would know that they were closely related. One of these lobelias, perhaps 

 offering two separate species,* begins to make its appearance-above 7,000 

 feet, and continues (or else reappears again in a closely allied form) right 

 up the mountain to tlie verv verge of the snow, and in ph\ces without 



140. "a most arduous climb": our way up the mountain o\ek tree-trunks at io,oco feet 



snow to 15,000 feet. This lobelia grows exactly like a dracsena. As 

 the plant shoots upwards the lowest leaves fall off the stem, leaving it 

 round and smooth, so that when the plant has attained its maturity it 

 exhibits a large launch or mop of sword-like leaves at the end of a woody 

 stem of small diameter, and about twenty feet and over in height. From 

 the middle of the mop of leaves there starts a flower-spike, which may 

 be as much as three feet in height. This is at the same time very 



* One ^^ould seem to be Lohelin stuhlmanni. 



