170 



KUWEXZORI AND ITS 8X0WS 



parts; of Knweiizori are the lohelias. 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 the}' 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 the very verge of the snow, and in places without 



140. 



A MOST ARDUOUS CLTMB 



OUK WAY UP THK 



OVER TREE-TRUNKS AT lO.OOO FEET 



snow to lo.lXJO feet. This lobelia grows exactly like a dractena. 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 bunch or mop of sword-like leaves at the end of a woody 

 stem of small diameter, and about twenty feet and over in lieight. 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 would seem to be L<jheliti stuhlmanni. 



