Kilimanjaro’s giant groundsels: The strange plants that thrive on Africa’s tallest mountain


QUICK FACTS

Name: Mount Kilimanjaro

Location: Kilimanjaro National Park, northeast Tanzania

Coordinates: -3.067192481296387, 37.355526051878165

Why it’s incredible: Kilimanjaro hosts huge, endemic plants called giant groundsels.

On the middle-altitude slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro grows a strange plant not found anywhere else on Earth. The giant groundsel, a plant that looks like a pineapple crossed with a saguaro cactus, colonized the flanks of Africa’s tallest mountain up to 1 million years ago and has not budged since.

Kilimanjaro’s giant groundsels (Dendrosenecio kilimanjari) grow at altitudes of between 9,200 and 13,100 feet (2,800 to 4,000 meters), where they get just enough rainfall to survive, according to the tour operator Tranquil Kilimanjaro. The plants have evolved adaptations to the harsh conditions on the mountain, including water storage systems and a protective jacket of dead leaves.



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