The vegetation of Mount Nyiru (Samburu District, Kenya): A checklist and syntaxonomical survey

Abstract

The forests of Northern Kenya, and particularly of Mt Nyiru, have not been studied in detail, although they are extensive and play an important role in the life of the pastoralist communities surrounding them. Here, we present a checklist of the plants of Mount Nyiru and a syntaxonomic survey of the forest. Four hundred and thirty three taxa belonging to 284 genera and 102 families of higher plants are recorded. Thirty-nine taxa are new for the floral region Kl. A syntaxonomic survey of the area shows that most forests belonged to the Juniperetea procerae (Montane Xeromorphic Cedar Forests). The Juniperion procerae, with the Faureo salignae¬Ilicetum mitis on the wet mountain tops, and the Myrsino africanae-Juniperetum procerae in drier areas, were most commonly encountered. Interestingly, the top of Mt. Nyiru was covered with rather large stands of the Hagenietea abyssinicae (Subalpine Elfm Forests) but lacking Hagenia abyssinica itself, and extensive Sinarundinarietea alpinae (Bamboo Forests).

Journal of East African Natural History Vol. 89 (1&2) 2000: pp. 45-71