The
Rwenzori Mountains, previously called the
Ruwenzori Range (the spelling having been changed in about 1980 to conform more closely with the local name), and sometimes the
Mountains of the Moon, is a
mountain rangeA mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
of central
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, often referred to as Mt. Rwenzori, located on the border between
UgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and the
Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, with heights of up to 5,109 m (16,761 ft) at 0°23′09"N 29°52′18"E. The highest Rwenzoris are permanently snow-capped, and they, along with
KilimanjaroKilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...
and
Mount KenyaMount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian , Nelion and Point Lenana . Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi...
are the only such in Africa.
Geologic history
The mountains formed about three million years ago in the late
PlioceneThe Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
as a result of an uplifted block of
crystalline rocksA crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
such as:
gneissGneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
,
amphiboliteAmphibolite is the name given to a rock consisting mainly of hornblende amphibole, the use of the term being restricted, however, to metamorphic rocks. The modern terminology for a holocrystalline plutonic igneous rocks composed primarily of hornblende amphibole is a hornblendite, which are...
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and
quartziteQuartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
,
"pushed up by tremendous forces originating deep within the earth’s crust".
This uplift divided the paleolake Obweruka and created two of the present-day
African Great LakesThe African Great Lakes are a series of lakes and the Rift Valley lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African Rift on the continent of Africa...
: Albert and
EdwardLake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the Equator...
and
GeorgeLake George or Lake Dweru is a lake in Uganda. It covers a total surface area of 250 km² and is a part of Africa's Great Lakes system but is not itself considered one of the Great Lakes. Like the other lakes in the region it was named after a member of the British royal family, in this case...
on the flanks of the Albertine (western) Rift of the East African Rift, the African part of the
Great Rift ValleyThe Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
.
The range is about 120 km (75 mi) long and 65 km (40 mi) wide. It consists of six massifs separated by deep gorges:
Mount StanleyMount Stanley is a mountain located in the Rwenzori range. With an elevation of 5,109 m , it is the highest mountain of both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and the third highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya . The peak and several other surrounding peaks are high...
(5,109m),
Mount SpekeMount Speke lies in the Ruwenzori Mountains National Park in Uganda, Africa and is the second highest peak in this range. Together with Mount Stanley and Mount Baker , it forms a triangle enclosing the upper Bujuku Valley. The nearest peak is Mount Stanley which is 3.55 km to the SSW...
(4,890m),
Mount BakerMount Baker lies in the Ruwenzori Mountains National Park in Uganda, Africa. Together with Mount Stanley and Mount Speke, it forms a triangle enclosing the upper Bujuku Valley. The nearest peak is Mount Stanley which is 2.26 km to the west...
(4,843m), Mount Emin (4,798m), Mount Gessi (4,715m) and Mount Luigi di Savoia (4,627m).
Mount StanleyMount Stanley is a mountain located in the Rwenzori range. With an elevation of 5,109 m , it is the highest mountain of both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and the third highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya . The peak and several other surrounding peaks are high...
is the largest and has several subsidiary summits, with Margherita Peak being the highest point. The rock is metamorphic, and the mountains are believed to have been tilted and squeezed upwards by plate movement. They are in an extremely humid area, and frequently enveloped in clouds.
Human history
In 150 AD the Alexandrian Greek geographer
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
referred to a snowcapped massif in the heart of Africa by the name of
Lunae Montes, or
Mountains of the MoonThe term Mountains of the Moon or Montes Lunae referred to a mountain range in central Africa that is the source of the White Nile.- Ancient testimony :...
. These are now widely accepted to be the Rwenzori Mountains.
The first modern European sighting of the Rwenzori was by the expedition of
Henry Morton StanleySir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
in 1889 (the clouds possibly being the reason two decades of previous explorers had not seen them). On June 7, the expedition's second-in-command and its military commander,
William Grant StairsWilliam Grant Stairs was a Canadian-British explorer, soldier, and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa.-Education:...
, climbed to 10,677 feet, the first known non-African ever to climb in the range. The first ascent to the summit was made by the Duke of the Abruzzi in 1906. His expedition quickly made first ascents of all major snow and ice peaks, mapping their complex geography, and leaving them with Italian names. His team consisted of mountain guides, biologists, surveyors, a geologist, photographers, and some one hundred and fifty porters. Photographer
Vittorio SellaVittorio Sella was an Italian photographer and mountaineer, who took photographs of mountains which are regarded as some of the finest ever made....
took a number of photographs showing a now-vanished world. Sella's photographic work is conserved at the
Museo Nazionale della Montagna, in Torino, and at the
Istituto di Fotografia Alpina Vittorio Sella, in
BiellaBiella is a town and comune in the northern Italian region of Piemonte, the capital of the province of the same name, with some 45,800 inhabitants as of 2009. It is located about 80 km northeast of Turin and about 80 km west-northwest of Milan.It lies in the foothills of the Alps,...
, both in Italy. The
Makerere UniversityMakerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...
, Uganda, also has a selection of his images.
The Rwenzori range is the home of the
KonjoThe Konjo , or Konzo, are a people located in the Rwenzori Mountains of southwest Uganda. Numbering 361,709 in the 1992 census, they live on the plains, hills and mountain slopes up to an altitude 2,200 meters...
and
Amba peopleThe Amba are a people located in border area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda south of Lake Albert in the northern foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains. On the Uganda side, they are found in Bundibugyo District. On the Congolese side, they are located in the Watalinga and Bawisa...
s. In the early 1900s, these two tribes were added to the Toro Kingdom by the colonial powers. The Konjo and Amba began to agitate for separation from Toro in the 1950s, a movement that became Rwenzururu, an armed secessionist movement, by the mid-1960s. The insurgency ended through a negotiated settlement in 1982, though the Rwenzururu Kingdom was acknowledged by the government in 2008.
Flora and fauna
The Rwenzori are known for their
vegetationVegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
, ranging from
tropical rainforestA tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator . This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall...
through alpine
meadowA meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
s to snow; and for their
animalAnimals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
population, including forest elephants, several
primateA primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
species and many
endemicEndemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
birdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s. The range supports its own species and varieties of giant groundsel and
giant lobeliaGiant lobelia may refer to:*Lobelia deckenii*Lobelia telekii...
and even has a six metre high
heatherCalluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...
covered in
mossMosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
that lives on one of its peaks. Most of the range is now a World Heritage Site and is covered jointly by The
Rwenzori Mountains National ParkRwenzori Mountains National Park is a Ugandan national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Rwenzori Mountains. Almost in size, the park has Africa's third highest mountain peak and many waterfalls, lakes, and glaciers. The park is known for its beautiful plant life.-History:Rwenzori...
in
UgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and the
Parc National des VirungaThe Virunga National Park , formerly named Albert National Park, is a 7800 square km National Park that stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the South, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the North, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori...
in
CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
.
Although the flora in the Rwenzori is closely related to that of other
East-African high mountainsThe East African mountains are a mountain region in East Africa, within Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.-Location and description:...
it is much more luxuriant here. This is mainly a result of the high and regular rainfall in the area. The distribution of vegetation is for a good deal determined by the altitude. At higher elevations, certain genera of plants grow unusually large. Most surprising are the giant heathers, senecios and lobelias, to which the Swedish botanist
Olov HedbergProf. Karl Olov Hedberg of Västeråsa botanist, taxonomist, author, professor of systematic botany at Uppsala University from 1970 to 1989 and an Editor of the Flora of Ethiopia; was updating the Umbelliferae manuscript when he died in 2007...
from the
Uppsala UniversityUppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
referred to as “botanical big game”. As the altitude increases, temperatures drop. The air also grows thinner, provoking intense radiation, even on clouded days. During the day the incoming radiation of
ultravioletUltraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
and
infraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
light is fierce, while at night the outward radiation under a clear sky has a considerable cooling effect. The equatorial location dictates marked diurnal variations in temperature, whereas the seasonal differences are less important. As if it were summer every day, winter every night.
There is no water shortage in the Rwenzori. Yet several members of the afroalpine family bear resemblance with species that normally thrive in desert climates. The reason lies in their similar water economy. Although abundantly present, water is not always readily available to the
afroalpineAfromontane is a term used to describe the Afrotropic subregion and its plant and animal species common to the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula...
plants when they need it. The nightly frosts affect the sap transport in the plants, and the intake of water by its roots. As the day begins, the air temperature and radiation level rise rapidly, putting strenuous demands on the exposed parts of the plants. It is vital to meet the transpiration demands of the leaves, and maintain a proper water balance. To counter the effects of freezing, the afroalpine plants have developed the insulation systems which give them such a striking appearance. As a rule, these adaptive trends become more prominent as the altitude rises.
Vegetation zones: There are 5 different vegetation zones found in the Rwenzori Mountains. These are grassland (1000–2000m), montane forest (2000–3000m), bamboo/mimulopsis zone (2500–3500m), heather/
Rapanea zone (3000–4000m) and the afro-alpine moorland zone (4000–4500m). At higher altitudes some plants reach an unusually large size, such as lobelia and groundsels. The vegetation in the Rwenzori Mountains is unique to equatorial alpine Africa.
Flora vs altitude
Meters
OrderIn scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
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LamialesLamiales is an order in the asterid group of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It includes approximately 11,000 species divided into about 20 families...
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Mimulopsis elliotii Mimulopsis elliotii is a flowering shrub from the family Acanthaceae and species of the genus Mimulopsis....
Mimulopsis arborescensMimulopsis arborescens is a tree from the family Acanthaceae and species of the genus Mimulopsis....
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RosalesRosales is an order of flowering plants. It is one of the four orders in the nitrogen fixing clade of the fabids and is sister to a clade consisting of Fagales and Cucurbitales. It contains about 7700 species, distributed into about 260 genera. Rosales comprises nine families, the type family...
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Prunus africana Prunus africana, or Red Stinkwood , is an evergreen tree native to the montane regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Islands of Madagascar, Sao Tome, Fernando Po and Grande Comore at about 900–3400 m. of altitude. The mature tree is 10–25 m. high, open-branched and often pendulous in forest,...
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Alchemilla subnivalis
Alchemilla stuhlmanii
Alchemilla triphylla
Alchemilla johnstonii |
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Alchemilla argyrophylla |
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FabalesFabales is an order of flowering plants. It is included in the rosid group of the eudicots in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II classification system...
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Albizia gummifera |
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CornalesCornales is an order of flowering plants, basal among the asterids, containing about 600 species. Plants within Cornales usually have four-parted flowers, drupaceous fruits, and inferior gynoecia topped with disc-shaped nectaries...
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Alangium chinense Alangium chinense is a species of flowering plant in the Alangiaceae family. It has the Chinese name .-Traditional uses:It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. And, it is used to treat snakebite, used as a carminative...
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MalpighialesMalpighiales is one of the largest orders of flowering plants, containing about 16000 species, approximately 7.8% of the eudicots. The order is very diverse and hard to recognize except with molecular phylogenetic evidence. It is not part of any of the classification systems that are based only on...
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Casearia battiscombei
Croton macrostachyus
Neoboutonia macrocalyx
Symphonia globuliferaSymphonia globulifera is a timber tree native to Central America, South America and Africa. This plant also used as a medicinal plant and ornamental plant.-Distribution:Native:...
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HypericumHypericum is a genus of about 400 species of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae ....
sp
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Hypericum revolutum
Hypericum bequaertii |
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AsparagalesAsparagales is the name of an order of plants, used in modern classification systems such as the APG III system . The order takes its name from the family Asparagaceae and is placed in the monocots. The order has only recently been recognized in classification systems...
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Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus is a herbaceous shrub endemic to the Ruwenzori Mountains of mountains in East tropical Africa. It belongs to the genus Scadoxus and has pendant, tubular blooms S. cyrtanthiflorus is unknown in cultivation....
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Disa stairsii Disa stairsii is a species of Disa of the family Orchidaceae that can be found growing with the giant heathers on the Ruwenzori Mountains of mountains in East tropical Africa....
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AsteralesAsterales is an order of dicotyledonous flowering plants that includes the composite family and its related families.The order is a cosmopolite, and includes mostly herbaceous species, although a small number of trees and shrubs are also present.The Asterales can be characterized on the...
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Dendrosenecio erici-rosenii Dendrosenecio erici-rosenii one of the East African giant groundsel and this one can be found on the Ruwenzori Mountains, Virunga Mountains and the Mitumba Mountains. A species of the genus Dendrosenecio and is also a collection of reclassified Senecio species.-Description:Dendrosenecio...
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Dendrosenecio adnivalisDendrosenecio adnivalis is one of the giant groundsels of the mountains of Eastern Africa. D. adnivalis grows on the Ruwenzori Mountainsand on the Virunga Mountainsin Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo....
Helichrysum sp.
Lobelia bequaertii
Lobelia wollastonii |
Helichchrysum guilelmii |
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Helichchrysum stuhlmanii |
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Senecio transmarinus Senecio transmarinus is a sometimes straggling member of the flowering plants Asteraceae and species of the genus Senecio a perennial herbthat grows on the higher elevations of the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda....
Senecio mattiroliiSenecio mattirolii is a perennial herb of the family Asteraceae endemic to altitudes between 3600–4500 meters on the slopes of the mountains of the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and an atypical species of the genus Senecio because it has purple...
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ApialesThe Apiales are an order of flowering plants. The families given at right are those recognized in the APG III system. This is typical of the newer classifications, though there is some slight variation, and in particular the Torriceliaceae may be divided...
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Peucedanum kerstenii Peucedanum kerstenii member of the Apiaceae or carrot family and species of the genus Peucedanum makes its home among the giant groundsels atop of the mountains of Eastern Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Ruwenzori Mountains and the Virunga Volcanoes.Peucedanum kerstenii is a shrublike...
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MyrtalesThe Myrtales are an order of flowering plants placed as a basal group within the rosid group of dicotyledons...
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Syzygium guineense |
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SapindalesSapindales is a botanical name for an order of flowering plants. Well-known members of Sapindales include citrus; maples, horse-chestnuts, lychees and rambutans; mangos and cashews; frankincense and myrrh; mahogany and neem....
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Allophylus abyssinicus |
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GentianalesGentianales are an order of flowering plants, included within the asterid group of dicotyledons.The circumscription of Gentiales in the Cronquist system included a broadly defined Loganiaceae , Retziaceae, Gentianaceae, Saccifoliaceae, Apocynaceae, and Asclepiadaceae...
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TabernaemontanaTabernaemontana is a genus of 100-110 species of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It has a pan-tropical distribution. These plants are shrubs and small trees growing to 1-15 m tall. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, 3-25 cm long, with milky sap; hence it is one of the diverse plant...
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Galium ruwenzoriense Galium ruwenzoriense is a member of the family Rubiaceae which grows at the mid-altitudes of 2,700 and 4,050 meters in northern Sub-Saharan AfricaIt forms vines, and spreads vegetatively by means of runners...
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EricalesThe Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons, including for example tea, persimmon, blueberry, Brazil nut, and azalea. The order includes trees and bushes, lianas and herbaceous plants. Together with ordinary autophytic plants, the Ericales include chlorophyll-deficient...
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Pouteria adolfi-friedericii |
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Erica arborea
Erica trimera |
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Erica silvatica
Erica johnstonii |
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| Brassicales The Brassicales are an order of flowering plants, belonging to the eurosids II group of dicotyledons under the APG II system. One character common to many members of the order is the production of glucosinolate compounds...
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Subularia monticola Subularia monticola is one of the water loving, annuals of the genus Subularia in the mustard family Brassicaceae. It lives in the cool, moist high elevations of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire.-Description:...
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| Primulales Primulales is a botanical name of an order of flowering plants. This name was used in several systems with little variation in circumscription...
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Rapanea rhododendroides |
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RanunculalesRanunculales is an order of flowering plants. Of necessity it contains the family Ranunculaceae, the buttercup family, because the name of the order is based on the name of a genus in that family. Ranunculales belongs to a paraphyletic group known as the basal eudicots...
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Ranunculus oreophytus
Arabis alpinaArabis alpina is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae that grows in mountainous areas of Europe, north Africa, central and eastern Asia and parts of North America. In the British Isles, it is only known to occur in a few locations in the Cuillin Ridge of the Isle of Skye.The stems of A...
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SantalalesSantalales is an order of flowering plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, but heavily concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions.Most have seeds without a testa, which is unusual for flowering plants...
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Strombosia scheffleri |
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| Poales Poales is a large order of flowering plants in the monocotyledons, and includes families of plants such as the grasses, bromeliads, and sedges. Sixteen plant families are currently recognized by botanists to be part of Poales....
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Yushania alpinaYushania alpina or African alpine bamboo, a perennialbamboo of the family Poaceae and the genus Yushaniaor the genus Sinarundinariabut not of the genus Chimonocalamus...
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Carex runssoroensis
Festuca abyssinica |
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Poa ruwenzoriensis |
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| Lecanorales The Lecanorales are an order of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The order contains 26 families, 269 genera, and 5695...
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Usnea Usnea is the generic and scientific name for several species of lichen in the family Parmeliaceae, that generally grow hanging from tree branches, resembling grey or greenish hair. It is sometimes referred to commonly as Old Man's Beard, Beard Lichen, or Treemoss...
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| Order In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Meters | 1500 | 2000 | 2500 | 3000 | 3200 | 3400 | 3600 | 3800 | 4000 | 4200 | 4400 | 4600 | 4800 | 5000 | 5100 |
Sources:
Glacial recession in Rwenzori
A subject of concern in recent years has been the impact of
climate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
on Rwenzori's glaciers. In 1906 the Rwenzori had 43 named glaciers distributed over 6 mountains with a total area of 7.5 km²., about half the total glacier area in Africa. By 2005, less than half of these survive, on only 3 mountains, with an area of about 1.5 km². Recent scientific studies such as those by Dr Richard Taylor of
University College LondonUniversity College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
have attributed this to global climate change, and investigated its impact on the mountain's
vegetationVegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
and
biodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
.
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