An annotated plant checklist of the transboundary volcanic Mt Elgon, East Africa

Peninah Cheptoo Rono; Fredrick Munyao Mutie; Vivian Kathambi; Neng Wei; Benjamin Muema Watuma; Consolata Nanjala; Godfrey Kinyori Wagutu; Paul M Kirika; Itambo Malombe; Guang-Wan Hu; Qing-Feng Wang

doi:10.3897/phytokeys.223.97401

An annotated plant checklist of the transboundary volcanic Mt Elgon, East Africa

PhytoKeys. 2023 Apr 4:223:1-174. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.223.97401. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Peninah Cheptoo Rono^{1

2

3}, Fredrick Munyao Mutie^{1

2

3}, Vivian Kathambi⁴, Neng Wei^{1

2

3}, Benjamin Muema Watuma^{1

2

3}, Consolata Nanjala^{1

2

3}, Godfrey Kinyori Wagutu^{2

3

5}, Paul M Kirika⁴, Itambo Malombe⁴, Guang-Wan Hu^{1

2

3}, Qing-Feng Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China CAS Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan China.
³ Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan China.
⁴ East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 45166 00100, Nairobi, Kenya East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya Nairobi Kenya.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, Wuhan, China Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, ChineseAcademy of Sciences Wuhan China.

Abstract

Mt Elgon is an ancient transboundary volcanic mountain found at the Kenya-Uganda boarder possessing high plant diversity. This study documents an updated checklist of the mountain's vascular plants obtained through random-walk field excursions and retrieval of herbarium specimen tracing back to 1900. We compiled 1709 species from 673 genera in 131 families. One new species of the family Cucurbitaceae was also reported. This checklist records respective habitat, habits, elevation ranges, voucher numbers and global distribution ranges of each species. Native and exotic species were also distinguished, where 8.4% of the total species in 49 families were exotic species. There were 103 endemic species, while 14 species were found to be both rare and endemic. IUCN conservation status revealed 2 Critically Endangered, 4 Endangered, 9 Vulnerable and 2 Near Threatened species. This study presents the first and most comprehensive plant inventory of Mt Elgon that will facilitate further ecological and phylogenetic studies.

Keywords: Checklist; Mt Elgon; conservation; distribution; plant species.

Peninah Cheptoo Rono, Fredrick Munyao Mutie, Vivian Kathambi, Neng Wei, Benjamin Muema Watuma, Consolata Nanjala, Godfrey Kinyori Wagutu, Paul M. Kirika, Itambo Malombe, Guang-Wan Hu, Qing-Feng Wang.

Grants and funding

The International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (151853KYSB20190027), The Natural Science Foundation of China (31970211), Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, CAS (SAJC202101)