PLANTS IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
85 
serve the purpose to record some of the more common plants 
to be seen from the train when travelling on the Uganda 
Railway between Naivasha and the coast. 
It must not be supposed, however, that the plants mentioned 
in this article can all be seen in flower at any one particular 
time of the year. 
The altitudes given for the stations have been kindly 
supplied by Mr. A. E. Church of the Uganda Railway. 
Leaving Naivasha, 6854 feet, the line begins to ascend the 
Kikuyu Escarpment out of the Rift Valley. 
The typical vegetation of the Rift Valley is seen here, 
wind- worn bushes or small trees of Capparis ; Tarconanthus 
camphoratus (Masai = Ol-leleshwa) ; Carissa edulis, and here 
and there an old Olive ( Olea chrysophylla). Near the lake 
may be seen flat-topped Acacias, so characteristic of the 
African landscape anywhere near water. Growing in the 
grass are many Crinums which, just before the rains commence, 
put out their beautiful white and pink flowers ; other plants 
to be seen are species of Helichrysum, Heliotropa, Coleus, 
Lantana, Buddleia, and forming conspicuous patches of white 
and pink in the grass, Ramphicarpa heuglinii. 
After passing Mount Longonot the Capparis trees disappear 
and are not met with again along the line. 
Close to Kijabe, 6909 feet, small Juniperus procera trees 
may be seen growing at the foot of Kijabe peak. After 
leaving Kijabe the line continues to ascend steadily ; for a mile 
or so Tarconanthus bushes continue, but when the forest is 
reached they cease and do not appear again. 
Between Kijabe and the commencement of the forest may 
be seen in July splendid specimens of the white Benias. In 
the forest may be seen the giant Junipers (Juniperus procera) 
in all their grandeur ; many of them having boles free of all 
branches for sixty feet ; alas that appearances are sometimes 
deceptive ! For when these trees are felled the majority of them 
prove to be but mere hollow shells, the heartwood having all 
been eaten away by a fungus, probably a species of Trametes. 
Associated with the Juniper are the following trees : 
Calodendron capense (Cape Chestnut) ; Warburgia ugandensis 
(Muziga), whose characteristic bark has been aptly described 
