Dendrosenecio kilimanjari

Dendrosenecio kilimanjari
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Senecioneae
Genus: Dendrosenecio
Species: D. kilimanjari
Binomial name
Dendrosenecio kilimanjari
(Mildbr.) E.B.Knox
Synonyms

Senecio kilimanjari Mildbr.
Sources:[1][2]

Dendrosenecio kilimanjari is a giant groundsel found atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. It was originally known as Senecio kilimanjari, but a recent botanical reclassification split off some species formerly in Senecio, putting it and various other species in the new genus Dendrosenecio. Both genera are in the family Asteraceae. The giant grounsels of the genus Dendrosenecio evolved, about a million years ago, from a Senecio that established itself on Mount Kilimanjaro, with those that survived adapting into Dendrosenecio kilimanjari. This later colonised other mountains by some means - the standard distance for wind dispersal of seeds is a few metres - and these isolated populations adapted in ways different from the parent population, creating new species.[3]

Infraspecific name synonymy

The names for the giant groundsels have become somewhat confusing:

A large Dendrosenecio kilimanjari, near Barranco Camp, Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dendrosenecio kilimanjari.
Wikispecies has information related to: Dendrosenecio kilimanjari


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