I 
Bulletin of the EANHS 29(3) 
to the rendezvous poml, planned worked schedule, etc 
were all very useful Fellows, however, should fly u* 
Dar es Salaam rather than via Mombasa to minimise 
immigration problems, as we spent quite a bit of time 
at the Kenyan and Tanzania borders. The navel 
arrangements tor fellows who used the Mombasa- 
langa route were well co-ordinated and the driver/ 
guide quite familiar and hclplul with the border 
procedures Unfortunately, he gave us a hair-raising 
ride to Tanga, a distance lie covered in the record time 
ol five hours— this was inclusive ol the half an hour 
ferry crossing and two hour border stops It look the 
fellows from Madagascar twelve hours to cover the 
same distance using the local bus service They thought 
it went tot* fast. Promises that the guide would be more 
careful on the return trip proved fruitless lie did 
reduced his speed slightly, but only because he was 
dozing at the wheel' 
The tents provided were in I airly good shape, but 
perhaps one more should be added to case congestion 
Tile food though adequate, was quite bland and 
repetitive towards the end However, the sumptuous 
IihhJ served at the Panori Hotel in Tanga more than 
made up for this! It was an excellent choice of lodgings 
fit e our interim stay before and after the gruelling 
fieldwork It was good that fellows had been warned 
that they should be in good physical shape as the work 
schedule was very intense and demanding 
The selection of fellows with a keen interest in birds 
made the team composition very well suited lor the 
project The fact that we were largely all from Africa 
did not hinder information How and new ideas were 
exchanged and debated at length Useful contacts were 
made and firm Iriendships forged 
All in all. it was a most enlightening and memorable 
experience! 
Jean (othaiga 
Department of Ornithology. National Museums of 
Kenya PO Box .10658. Nairobi. Kenya Tel 742131 4. 
742161-4 exi 242'3 Fax 741049 E mail: 
kbirds@africaonline.co.kc 
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 
THE TAXONOMIC TANGLE OF A 
KENYAN SANSEVIERIA 
For some years I have been puzzled by a Sansevieria 
plant that Is quite widespread in Kenya Localities where 
I have collected this species range from Marich Pass in 
the north to Waita Hill in the south, in the Rift Valley 
and along the eastern side of it The plant consists ol 
an acaulcsceni rosette of about six large leaves up to 
50 cm or more long x 8.5 cm wide, spreading by 
means of a thick underground rhizome, about 5 cm m 
diameter, and bearing a dense unbranched 
inflorescence The plant is illustrated by Schulz & 
Powys (1998. page 73). and following Tckctay (set* 
below) I had suggested the name S. forskaoliana lor 
this picture in the book's proof stage, though this was 
(perhaps rightly ) queried later by Juan Chahiuian (pers 
comm ) 
Very lew species have been described in Kenya 
since the monograph of N T. Brown (1915). and this 
plant is dearly not one of the novelties ( Newton. 1 996) 
Therefore. I started by trying to identity it in Brown’s 
account Brown did a remarkable job in pulling together 
everything that was known about the taxonomy of the 
genus at the time, but anyone who has tried to identity 
a Sansevieria plant w ith his monograph will know the 
frustration that is induced by the exercise Many of the 
species were described from cultivated plants at Kcw, 
U K . in some cases with no record of their origin 
leg S. patens “Tropical Africa Origin unknown, 
but probahly British East Africa" and S varians 
•Country unknown") Also, some descriptions are 
incomplete. By following Brown's key I reached the 
name 5. chinensis Gcntil. a taxon described from a 
cultivated plant whose origin is completely 
unknown Juan Chnhinian. who knows more about 
sansevieria* than I do. strongly believes that the plant 
is not 5 i hint n sis 
Tlic distribution range of my plant falls partly within 
the area of Agncw's flora of the Kenya highlands, for 
which a key to the genus Sansevieria was written by 
Mbugua (1994) Here my plant keys out to S. ronspicua 
N t Brown, which I had thought was found only in 
the coastal region. Mbugua himsclt. when 1 showed 
hint my plant, said unhesitatingly that it is S. hraimti 
Engler & Krause, which is not included in his account 
m Agncw's book Indeed, it appears to be the plant 
featured by him later as S bnrnnii l Mbugua. 1998). 
though the remarkably thick rhizome and rosulate leaf 
arrangement arc n«»i mentioned. Sansevieria braunil 
was originally described from material collected in 
Tanzania According to Plennig ( 1977) S braunli has 
a capitate inflorescence. The type specimen of S. hraunli 
is in the East Africa Herbarium (EA) in Nairobi (not 
BM as stated by Mbugua. 1994). and it hns a distinctly 
cylindrical inflorescence Furthermore, in the 
protologuc of 5. braiuni (Engler & Krause. 191 1 ) it is 
stated that the flowers arc 10* 1 1 cm long, as can also 
be seen on the type specimen, and that certainly docs 
not apply to the plant discussed here The type locality 
ol 5 braunii is in south- western Tanzania, and I have 
never seen the Kenyan plant anywhere in the intervening 
area in northern Tanzania. I have yet to look for the 
type locality and see what is growing there 
Yet another possible name for the plant came 
from recent accounts of Ethiopian species Pictures 
of S. forskaoliana (Schultes 111.) Heppcr Ac Wood in a 
paper by Tckctay (1995) look remarkably like my plant, 
and the text does indicate that this species occurs in 
Kenya However, the description in the same paper 
states that each shoot has only 1-2 leaves, which is 
inconsistent w ith the pictures According to Friis (1995) 
