Vegetation Descriptions of the Upper Zambezi Districts of Zambia
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VEGETATION DESCRIPTIONS OF THE UPPER ZAMBEZI DISTRICTS OF ZAMBIA D.B. Fanshawe December 2010 Occasional Publications in Biodiversity No. 22 VEGETATION DESCRIPTIONS OF THE UPPER ZAMBEZI DISTRICTS OF ZAMBIA BY D.B. FANSHAWE Edited and reissued by J.R. Timberlake M.G. Bingham December 2010 ORIGINALLY ISSUED AS FOREST RESEARCH PAMPHLETS BY THE ZAMBIA FOREST RESEARCH DEPARTMENT, KITWE, ZAMBIA Occasional Publications in Biodiversity No. 22 Biodiversity Foundation for Africa, P.O. Box FM 730 Famona, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Fanshawe – Upper Zambezi Vegetation Reports page 1 LIST OF CONTENTS page List of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Glossary of Local Terms 3 References & Further Reading 3 Acknowledgements 3 Map of Districts Covered 4 District Descriptions Balovale [Zambezi] 5 Kabompo 23 Kafue National Park 40 Kalabo 76 Mankoya [Kaoma] 87 Mongu-Lealui [Mongu] 92 Mwinilunga 106 Senanga 130 Sesheke 149 Victoria Falls [Livingstone] 180 List of Species with Updated Nomenclature 205 Fanshawe – Upper Zambezi Vegetation Reports page 2 INTRODUCTION During the late 1960s to early 1970s, Dennys Fanshawe, a senior Forester with the Zambia Forest Research Department based in Kitwe, produced 36 District-level or area-based habitat- based plant checklists from across Zambia. Based principally on his own observations, travels and collections, these represent a valuable source on information on both vegetation types and plant distribution. They have not been superseded in their comprehensive coverage. However, they are now difficult to access as they were produced as typescript or mimeographed reports and were not widely distributed. In addition, plant nomenclature has changed significantly, raising difficulties when the District accounts are used in conjunction with more recent lists. During the biodiversity assessment component of the IUCN Zambezi Basin Wetlands Conservation and Resource Utilisation Project, carried out by the NGO partnership of the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa and the Zambezi Society from 1998 to 2000, lists pertaining to the upper Zambezi catchment, the Kafue National Park and the area around Victoria Falls/ Livingstone, were brought together. The idea was to make this valuable information more widely available to researchers in one place, and to provide updated nomenclature. The District reports included here comprise all of what is now Western Province, part of North Western Province and a small part of Southern Province around Livingstone. District boundaries have changed since Fanshawe prepared the original reports, and Figure 1 shows their historic distribution, as used here. The order of presentation of reports is alphabetical, not geographical or chronological. The area covered comprises the B division of Flora Zambesiaca (5 districts), the W division (2 districts, Kabompo and Mwinilunga) and the S division (Kafue National Park and Victoria Falls). For historical purposes and because of numerous errors that are not readily corrected, such as with plant identification, the original District reports and lists are presented here with minimal editing. Minor changes have been made to the format to facilitate comparability, obvious spelling mistakes have been corrected, and metric measurements are given in brackets where imperial measurements were used. Some of the abbreviations used in the lists are not clear, and these have been left blank in the text. Original species nomenclature has been retained, although a complete list of all plant taxa cited is given at the end with updated names and species authorities whenever possible. Nomenclature follows that used in the recent Sabonet checklist of the plants of Zimbabwe (Mapaura & Timberlake 2004) and an unpublished Zambian checklist (Bingham 2010). For species not listed there, the African Plants Database (www.ville.ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/index.php) has been used along with, for some families, present accepted usage at Kew. It is hoped that this document will not only make Fanshawe's reports more easily accessible, but encourage further botanical and ecological work in this biodiversity-rich and fascinating part of the Zambezi Basin. Fanshawe – Upper Zambezi Vegetation Reports page 3 GLOSSARY OF LOCAL TERMS Chipya – fire-induced savanna woodland with a well-developed grass layer, possibly derived from degradation of dry evergreen forest. Dambo – shallow grassy depression or drainage channel, usually with seasonally-impeded drainage. Mutemwa – Baikiaea forest or thicket woodland. Boma – Government administrative district or centre within a town. Miombo – woodland with a grassy understorey dominated by trees of Brachystegia, Julbernardia or Isoberlinia species. Mavunda – dense Cryptosepalum forest or thicket woodland. Mushitu – riverine, drainage line or swamp forest. Mukusi – Lozi vernacular name for Baikiaea plurijuga Kopje – a small rocky outcrop, usually composed of granite and somewhat isolated. Munga – savanna woodland dominated by Acacia and Combretum species, named after the vernacular name for straight-thorned Acacia species. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING Bingham, M.G. (2010). Checklist of Zambian plants. Available at www.naturezambia.com Fanshawe, D.B. (1969). The Vegetation of Zambia. Forest Research Bulletin No. 7. Division of Forest Research, Kitwe, Zambia. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J.R. [editors] (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants. Southern African Botanical Network Report No. 33. Sabonet, Pretoria & Harare. Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A checklist of Zambian vascular plants. Southern African Botanical Network Report No. 32. Sabonet, Pretoria. Smith, P.P. [editor] (2001). Ecological Survey of Zambia: The traverse records of C.G. Trapnell 1932–43. 3 vols. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Trapnell, C.G. & Clothier, J.N. (1996). The Soils, Vegetation and Traditional Agriculture of Zambia. Volume 1: Central and Western Zambia [Ecological Survey 1932–1936]. Redcliffe Press, Bristol. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank the Director of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Zambia, for permission to reproduce these Forest Research Pamphlets. Typing was initially done through Zambezi Livestock and Lands/RDP Livestock Services in 1999, for which we are very grateful. Additional support was provided by the BFA Secretariat in Bulawayo, in particular Verity Mundy and Michelle Bailey. Plant nomenclature (2010) was kindly updated by Iain Darbyshire (Acanthaceae), David Goyder (Asclepiadaceae, Apocynaceae), Alan Paton (Lamiaceae) and Brian Schrire (Leguminosae), all from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Fanshawe – Upper Zambezi Vegetation Reports page 4 Map showing districts in western Zambia as used by Fanshawe in his vegetation descriptions. Fanshawe – Vegetation of Balovale District page 5 FOREST RESEARCH PAMPHLET No. 56, 1973 THE VEGETATION OF BALOVALE DISTRICT Balovale [Zambezi] District lies in the North Western Province between 13o00'–14o15' S and 22o00'– 23o45' E. It has an area of 20,200 km² and is bounded on the north and west by Angola, on the south by Kalabo and Mongu districts, and on the east by Kabompo District. The main rivers are the Lwitali in the east flowing to the Kabompo and the Makonda, Lunyuwe and Lunkunyi in the north east flowing to the Zambezi River. West of the Zambezi is flat plain country with slow meandering streams draining east and south. West of the Zambezi is an area of flat watershed plains, east of the Zambezi the sand country is gently undulating. The western plains lie at 914 m above sea level, the eastern plains around 1070 m. There are very few hill features in the area apart from Chavuma hill rising to 1160 m and Chito hill near the Balovale–Kabompo boundary rising to 1220 m. The district can be divided into two climatic regions: (a) the warmer but fairly wet areas of the east and northwest, and (b) the warmer drier area of the central and southwest. The mean annual rainfall is 1080 mm falling between November and March inclusive. The mean minimum temperature of the coldest month (July) is 8oC and the mean maximum temperature of the hottest month (October) is 33.5oC. Frost is common in the months of June and July especially in hollows associated with dambos. The whole area is covered by a mantle of Kalahari sand except around Chavuma and along the main rivers where the sands have been eroded away to expose the underlying sandstones and shales of the Kundelungu series. Plateau soils occur around Chavuma, the rest of the district is covered by Kalahari sands. The plateau soils are fairly shallow sandy clays ranging from pallid through yellow brown to reddish brown in colour. The sands are divided into contact and upland sands. The contact sands usually pallid clay sands. The upland sands are deep, well drained, coarse grained sands with a 10–12% clay + silt fraction, varying in colour from pallid to reddish brown. The vegetation is more or less equally divided between dry evergreen forest and Kalahari woodland east of the Zambezi with large open plains, bush groups, scrub and poor Kalahari woodland west of the river. There is a small patch of miombo, hill miombo and Marquesia macroura forest on plateau soils at Chavuma. Baikiaea forest occurs in a few relic patches around Chitokoloki and in Balovale P.F.A. Gallery woodland is well represented on the middle and lower reaches of the streams but rare on the headwaters and then mostly on then mostly on the west bank. True swamp forest is known from one isolated patch on the west bank, although much of the gallery woodland is swamp/riparian woodland. Termite mounds are restricted to the miombo woodland around Chavuma and a few of the wider dambo margins. The total woody flora is probably between 500–600 species, of which just under 500 have so far been recorded. Fanshawe – Vegetation of Balovale District page 6 The following vegetation types occur in the district: 1. Closed Forest A. Climatic 1. Dry evergreen forest 2. Dry deciduous forest B. Edaphic 1. Swamp forest 2. Riparian forest a) Moist dambos 2. Open forest 1. Miombo woodland (a) Hill miombo woodland 2. Kalahari woodland (a) Kalahari/miombo woodland (b) Burkea – Erythrophleum woodland (c) Burkea – Diplorhynchus scrub (d) Suffrutex savanna (e) Bush groups 3. KS munga woodland (a) dry dambos 3.