﻿A NEW TREE SENECIO FROM TROPICAL AFRICA. 141 



recuryatis, involucri foliolis 30 vel pluribus exterioribus ligulatis 

 acuminatis £-f lin. latis f poll, longis interioribus superne quam 

 inferne latioribus oblongis vel ovatis acuminatis circiter 2 lin. 

 latis omnibus glabratis ad apicem pubescentibus, calyculi foliolis 

 anguste linearibus ciliatis, floribus radii circiter 10-15 ligula lineari 

 involucro fere duplo longiore, fl. disci tubo superne cylindrico- 

 dilatato ad basin attenuato, styli ramis recurvatis truncatis, acheniis 

 glabris longitudinaliter costatis. 



Hab. Equatorial Africa. Mt. Kenia, Hohnel Valley, Br. J. W. 

 Gregory, July, 1893, alt. 13-14,000 ft. Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Inflorescence about 1 ft. long, possibly longer. Capitula £-1 in. 

 broad. Lower bracts 6-8 in. long, about 2£ in. broad, tbe broadest 

 point being one-third of the length from the base. The bracts are 

 traversed by a thick midrib ; the margins are entire or obscurely 

 crenate. 



Dr. Gregory tells me the Senecio grows to a height of 25-30 ft., 

 the stem attaining a diameter of a foot or more. It was found 

 growing on the rocky sides of valleys, in shell 

 height of 13,000-14,000 ft., on the south-west side of the r 

 associated with Lobelia Gregoriana (see p. 66). 



The leaves are large (rather over 1 ft. long), ovate, unlobed, 

 extremely woolly, with an acute apex, the lamina running decur- 

 rently down the petiole (and thus being markedly different from 

 the base of the leaves of Senecio Johnstoni Oliv., which are cordate), 

 and form crowded rosettes, which crown the ends of the branches. 

 The rosettes are about 2 ft. across. The panicle of flower-heads 

 (about 1 ft. long) hang down below the leaves. In connection with 

 the altitude at which this plant was collected, it is interesting to 

 notice that S. Johnstoni on Mt. Kilimanjaro, while reaching 14,000 

 ft., comes down as low as 8,500 ft. The wood is very light, and 

 apparently of no economic use, except for burning. The best 

 description of the upper portion of the stem, that is, the portion 

 just below where the leaves are borne, is that it resembles an old 

 worn-out "bass broom," it being thickly covered with stiff fibres, 

 If in. long (fibro-vascular bundles), and other remnants of the leaf- 



strongly ridged, lower down 

 i cylindrk 



ridges fall off, leavir 



This interesting addition to the tree Senecios is allied to the 

 plant which Mr. Johnston gathered on Mt. Kilimanjaro, described 

 by Prof. Oliver (Tram. Linn. Soc. ser. ii. Bot. vol. ii. p. 340, t. 60). 

 It is much more nearly allied to this plant than it is either to 8. 

 gigas Vatke, from the mountains of Abvssinia, or to S. Mannii 

 Hook, fil., from the Camaroons. 



I have compared S. Keniensis with type -specimens of S. Johnstoni, 

 and find that it differs principally in having the panicles much 

 more densely lanate, rather more congested, and containing fewer 

 shgbtly larger capitula. The bracts of the involucre are more 

 numerous, and the exterior bracts are longer and narrower than the 

 interior. The larger bracts of the inflorescence, specially if we 

 take those 6-8 in. long, are different in S. Keniensis. They are 

 broadest about one-third of their length from the base, and from 



