Uganda: Rwenzori NP – Senecio Forests

As you climb above 13,000 feet (4000 meters) the landscape changes again – becoming even more otherworldly. Huge senecio (a bizarre looking tree with giant thick leaves and hollow trunks) forests cover upper steep slopes. Senecio is a plant from the Sunflower family, also known as giant groundsel. In the Afro-alpine zone, it’s size and scale reaches huge proportions. While there is plenty of water at this elevation – the plants have a lot of water conserving and anti-sun adaptations – thick leaves coated with hairs, trunks to store water, etc. At night everything freezes here, including the senecios. In the morning, everything defrosts and gets pounded by insane amounts of solar radiation – which senecios try to deflect. So the window to absorb water and do photosynthesis is actually very small. This is adaptation at its extreme!