East Africa Archives - Page 2 of 2

Aloe ketabrowniorum

This species was described in 1994 from Hurran Hurra in Kenya (west of North Horr, at the north end of the Chalbi Desert). A year later a second locality was found, but no other ones have been recorded.
Northern Kenya is rather under-collected, so the species may well occur in other places too, but for the moment it should be considered to be rare and endangered.
I was therefore quite chuffed to be able to see the species in the wild. The population looked quite healthy and several plants were in flower. The altitude of the locality is about 580 m.
Aloe ketabrowniorum forms low clumps to ca. 1 m in diameter, branching from the base. The stem creep on the ground with their tips raised and are to 30 cm long.
The leaves are to 38 cm long and 4.5 cm wide at the base, with small but firm marginal teeth. The inflorescences are to 70 cm tall.

Euphorbia kalisana (part 2 of 2)

The last photo depicts a seedling in cultivation (a scan from an old slide). The little plant shows the transitional phase between forming pairs of spines and single spines.

euphkali DSC_1311

euphkali 1215

euphkali 1171

euphkali DSC_1292

euphkaliscan2

Euphorbia kalisana (part 1 of 2)

The name kalisana has its origin in Swahili and means very fierce. This is indeed the first impression the plants convey. At the same time they are peculiarly beautiful with their colourful stems and often almost white spinescence .
The plant’s roots are thick and fleshy and give rise to a stem up to 7.5 cm high and 20 cm in diameter, its top usually more or less at ground-level. Its sprawling branches are up 1 m long and to 2 cm thick, with very robust, to 7 cm long spines.

One can find the plants in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia on gravelly soil (often lava) at an altitude between 100 and 100o m.
The pictures were taken south and north of Mt. Kulal, at altitudes between 485 and 925 m. The plants from this very arid area are usually larger and more robust than those from the lower altitude plains further east.
The first picture gives an impression of one of these desolate places between Loiyangalani and North Horr.

Momordica rostrata

Of the about 900 species of the Pumpkin Family (Cucurbitaceae), nearly 10% can be classified as a caudiciform succulent. The subject of this post is a clear example.
It is a climber with a tuberous rootstock 15-20 cm across, which is visible above ground and tapers into the stems which may be up to 7 m long.
Young stems are green and soft, soon becoming dark green, grey or brownish and somewhat woody.
The plants are dioecious (either male or female) and produce egg-shaped
fruits which are bright red, up to 7 x 3 cm and beaked (=rostrata).
The species occurs in deciduous bushland, thicket , woodland and wooded grassland from sea level to 1650 m in tropical East Africa: southern Ethiopia and the adjacent part of Somalia, northeastern Uganda, Kenya, northern and central Tanzania.

The pictures were taken in Kenya and northern Tanzania, except for the last one, which shows a young plant in cultivation.

Caralluma foetida

When not in flower, this species is difficult to distinguish from related species like C. retrospiciens and C. speciosa.
The stems are 2-3.5 cm thick and up to 20 cm tall, forming cushions to 1.5 m in diameter. The inflorescences are terminal heads of about 30 to 40 flowers, each about 2.5 cm in diameter.

The species occurs from Karamoja in Uganda and adjacent areas in Kenya to as far east as Archers Post.
Pictures were made near South Horr, Kenya, late September 2015.

Caralluma foetida

The species occurs from Karamoja in Uganda and adjacent areas in Kenya to as far east as Archers Post.
Pictures were made near South Horr, Kenya, late September 2015.

Kenya revisited (part 2 of 2)

The first three pictures are from in and around South Horr:
#1 one of the peculiar river beds in the village, just before sunrise
# 2 Adenium obesum bathing in early morning sunlight
# 3 at the end of a long day

The next one gives an impression of Mt. Kulal

The southeastern corner of Lake Turkana:

The last thre pictures are from the south of the country:
– Euphorbia classenii on the slopes of Mt. Kasigau
– Aloe ballyi in the Taita Hills
– Baobab (Adansonia digitata) near Mtito Andei

More pictures will find their way into upcoming posts!