Beck, E: Plant life on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Flora, 181, 379-381 (1988), doi:10.1016/S0367-2530(17)30378-X | |
Abstract: Plant life, enabled by moisture from fumaroles, has been detected in the alpine desert of the top crater regior (5,700 m a.s.l.) of Mt. Kilimanjaro 35 year ago (Sampson 1953). Upon reinspection of the locality in 1985 two lichen species and 3 species of herbs were found in a limited area of the Ash Pit Crater where water vapor exhaled from fumaroles condenses and drops from the rocks thus supporting plant life. In addition to water vapor the fumaroles produce SO2. A significantly higher sulfur-, but a smaller nitrogen content was determined in plant parts collected in the crater as compared with corresponding samples picked up at the genuine unpolluted habitat of the species some 2,000 m of altitude lower. |