Flora found on the grassland, Mount Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania

Plants near the top of the mountain tend to become less and less. Travelling slightly higher up the slopes of Kilimanjaro, one will come across the heath and moorland. Also known as the grassy land of giants, the heath is inhabited by enormous heathers growing taller than 9 feet in many instances. Scattered between the giant shrubs are resilient flowers such as the Kilimanjaro protea, and 'everlasting daisies'. Also lighting up the mountain are the well known succulents, Kniphofia thomsonii, otherwise known as red hot pokers. Intersecting the heath, the moorland area is occupied mostly by senecios and lobelias. One sub- type of the species, the Lobelia deckenii has protective leaves which close over the plant's tiny blue flowers at night, protecting them from the devastation of the evening frost. At approximately 4500 feet, the alpine desert is a cauldron of extreme temperatures. Scorched by the equatorial sun during the day and battered by sub zero winds at night, only the hardiest of plants can survive here. Tussock shoots sprout from within the confines of the plant's dead older strands and lichens cling directly to jagged lava rocks. Also managing to endure the harsh terrain is the resilient helichrysum. The final stretch of the mountain, the summit zone, is inhabited only by the hardiest of lichens. Due to the fact that all water at this altitude has been sucked into the absorbent Volcanic Rocks, ice and snow, even the lichens at this Altitude grow incredibly slowly. During his trip to Tanzania, Eliot Elisofon and his crew ascended Mount Kilimanjaro. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Broadcasting Company and traveled to Africa from June 1966 to August 1966.