Asteraceae
Dendrosenecio

Dendrosenecio meruensis (Cotton & Blakelock) E.B.Knox

First published in Contr. Univ. Michigan Herb. 19: 245 (1993)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tanzania (Mt. Meru). It grows primarily in the montane tropical biome.

Descriptions

Compositae, H. Beentje, C. Jeffrey & D.J.N. Hind. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2005

Morphology General Habit
Upright, polycarpic plant to 7 m tall, with trunk to 35 cm in diameter; pith to 2 cm in diameter; stem with lax leaf-rosettes of 15–25 leaves, with little internode elongation, covered with retained leaf-bases for 1–2 m below the leaf-rosettes.
Growth
Repeated reproduction and branching yields a sprawling, open canopy with up to 10–30 aerial meristems in mature trees.
Morphology Leaves
Leaf lamina elliptic, to 113 cm long and 34 cm wide, hair cushion weakly to strongly developed on upper leaf-base, lower surface glabrous or sparsely pubescent, villose along lower midvein.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence broadly paniculate to 100 cm tall, 50 cm in diameter; capitula presented horizontally.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Ray florets yellow, 12–17, to 23 mm long; disc florets 40–65.
Habitat
Moist sites in upper afro-montane evergreen forest and ericaceous moorland; largest and most abundant plants grow along small ravines with abundant moisture and light; 2850–3350 m
Distribution
T2 endemic to Mt Meru
[FTEA]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/67819083/67819101

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0