240 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XVIII 
the tree-lobelias when in flower are visited by flocks of 
beautiful sunbirds (see p. 376). A species of St. John’s 
wort assumes here a tree-like form and the everlasting 
flower Helichrysum flourishes up to the level of the 
snow. This pretty flower takes the place of Edelweiss 
in Alpine regions. At an altitude of 11,000 to 12,000 
feet the ground and tree trunks are covered with an 
extraordinary growth of moss (Usnea). In these humid 
places the heaths grow into big trees, some of them fifty 
feet high. 
The arborescent groundsels have been recently studied 
by Woosnam on Ruwenzori. At first a senecio is a 
small plant not unlike a cabbage : gradually the stem 
lengthens and gives out branches with a tuft of bright 
green leaves at the end : as the plant grows the old 
leaves shrivel and droop, hanging down the stem one 
upon another till the upper parts of the branches near 
the green tuft are transformed into great swollen masses 
of dead leaves tightly packed together. These senecio 
trees attain a great age, which it would not be too 
much to estimate at anything from fifty to one hundred 
years, or even more. 
The lobelias are more remarkable than the groundsels. 
They are found on Ruwenzori, Kilimanjaro, and Kenia. 
On all these mountains from 7,000 to 15,000 feet these 
tree-lobelias flourish and many attain a height of fifteen 
feet or more. 
A tree-lobelia consists of a basal portion crowded with 
aloe-like leaves. From the stem, a flower column or 
spike arises. This in some species {L. Deckenii) is 
hollow and lined with pith. The flowers grow out at 
rio-lit angles to the column and are borne in the axils of 
O O 
the bracts. These bracts are long and often give the 
flower-column a ragged appearance. The sepals are light 
green and the flowers dark violet; when the dowers are 
o .... 
mature they produce an exquisite shimmering of colour. 
AVoosnam is of opinion that the lobelias live to a great 
age, but it is a long time before they come into blossom, 
