In the Volcanic Region i59 



carries blossoms of the size and colour of Riibus runsorensis Engl., 

 The undergrowth, however, which forms the ' green meadows ' 

 which one sees from below, is a real wilderness of great African 

 shrubs of which the most important are the umbelliferae 

 (^Anthrisciis silvestris (L.) Hoff>n., and Peucedanum Kerstenii 

 Engl.), as also a sorrel (Rumex Steudelii Hochst.). The soil is 

 rich, soft and heavy : the foot sinks deep into it at every step. 



"The heath region at Karissimbi is not particularly note- 

 worthy. It is true that the Philippia J ohnstonii Engl, attains 

 stately, tree-like dimensions with very broad, dense crowns, 

 comparing very favourably with the ericacece of Ruwenzori, but 

 it is limited to the margin of the Hans Meyer Crater, an altitude 

 of 3,800 metres, and only forms a streak amongst the senecio 

 growth which starts lower down. 



" The Senecio J ohnstonii is extraordinarily developed at Karis- 

 simbi. It begins below the so-called south cone at an elevation 

 of about 3,400 metres as a candelabrum-branched tree about ten 

 metres in height, and extends up the cone for another thousand 

 metres, of which it is the sole inhabitant. In the lower region 

 it is interspersed with the mighty stalks of Lobelia W ollastonii 

 Sp. Moore, which look like immense gun swabs. There were few 

 blooming plants to be found in November ; there were mostly 

 withered stems or young plants with great shocks of leaves. One 

 withered stem measured 5.50 metres in height, of which the blos- 

 som-spikes took up 2.50, the circumference of the hollow stems in 

 the leafy region being 50 centimetres. It is the same genus which 

 is characteristic of the alpine region of Ruwenzori. In this vegeta- 

 tion the ground is covered with a semi-shrublike Alchemilla 

 cinerea Engl., which spreads almost all over the great mountain 

 cone like a perfect grey-green carpet. It is excessively fatiguing 

 to climb in it, especially in the lower part, where one sinks in up 

 to the knees. Below the summit it gives way to mosses, liver- 

 wort and lichen, but we came across it again near the highest 

 point in the shape of a few dwarfed specimens amongst the 

 snowflakcs and the storm-tossed lava fragments which were 

 studded with ice crystals at an elevation of 4,500 metres." 



