PLANTS IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
89 
and Machakos Road there is little variety in the vegetation 
from the black cotton of the plains, but at the latter station 
the soil changes to a rich red loam, with the result that trees 
are abundant, though they are only small ones. 
From Machakos Road Station the line descends rapidly 
to Kiu (4861 feet). Just before coming into Kiu Station 
the beautiful mauve and white Astrochlaena can be seen on the 
right-hand side of the line ; this Astrochlaena has a distribution 
extending to Voi. Leaving Kiu, on each side of the line at 
certain seasons of the year may be seen the small bushes of 
Thunbergia erecta , with their gorgeous purple flowers. About 
half-way between Kiu and Sultan Hamud the line cuts through 
a group of acacias with fine red bark ; seen when the sun is 
low, so that his rays strike direct on to the stems of the trees, 
the colour is very beautiful. 
From here on to Makindu the country is, from a botanist’s 
point of view, rather monotonous and does not exhibit much 
change. There is an interesting landmark just outside Simba 
Station (8845 feet) in the shape of a solitary baobab tree 
(Adansonia digitata), indicating its farthest limit of altitude 
and also indicating that the real tropics have commenced. In 
the station garden there are two exotic trees which are interest- 
ing as noting the altitude at which they can flourish, they are 
Moringa pterygosperma and Plumieria rubra , commonly known 
as Frangipane. 
Between this station and Kibwezi the white Plumbago 
zeylanica grows in great abundance along the line, and beyond 
Makindu the very beautiful Caesalpinia data ; this tree is 
found also at Voi. 
The part of the line between Kibwezi and Voi is a closed 
book to the writer of this article, as both the up and down 
mixed trains pass along it in the night. 
From Voi (1888 feet) a conspicuous feature on each side 
of the line are the many Sanseveira plants, chiefly S. guiniensis 
and S. ehrenbergii. 
The line passes through fairly thick bush, the trees com- 
posing it having marked xerophytic characters. Conspicuous 
among the trees are large Euphorbia candelabra and the bright 
red-flowered Erythrina. 
