|
Giant Senecio
''Dendrosenecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family. It is a segregate of ''Senecio'', in which it formed the subgenus ''Dendrosenecio''. Its members, the giant groundsels, are native to the higher altitude zones of ten mountain groups in equatorial East Africa, where they form a conspicuous element of the flora. Description They have a giant rosette habit, with a terminal leaf rosette at the apex of a stout woody stem. When they bloom, the flowers form a large terminal inflorescence. Concomitantly, two to four lateral branches are normally initiated. As a result, old plants have the appearance of candelabras the size of telephone poles, each branch with a terminal rosette. Species ''Dendrosenecio'' varies geographically between mountain ranges, and altitudinally on a single mountain. There has been disagreement among botanists as to which populations of ''Dendrosenecio'' warrant recognition as species, and which should be relegated to the status of subspe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dendrosenecio Kilimanjari
''Dendrosenecio kilimanjari'' is a giant groundsel found on Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, below . Taxonomy It was originally known as ''Senecio kilimanjari'', but a recent botanical reclassification split off some species formerly in ''Senecio'', putting it and various other species in the new genus ''Dendrosenecio''. Both genera are in the family ''Asteraceae''. The giant groundsels of the genus ''Dendrosenecio'' evolved, about a million years ago, from a ''Senecio'' that established itself on Mount Kilimanjaro, with those that survived adapting into ''Dendrosenecio kilimanjari''. This later colonised other mountains by some means - the standard distance for wind dispersal of seeds is a few metres - and these isolated populations adapted in ways different from the parent population, creating new species. Infraspecific name synonymy The infraspecific name In botany, an infraspecific name is the scientific name for any taxon below the rank of species, i.e. an infraspecif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
