Key to the checklist • The checklist is divided into four broad categories: pteridophytes, gymnosperms, monocotyledons, and dicotyledons. • Families are arranged in alphabetical order under each plant group. • Genera and species are also arranged alphabetically. • The currently accepted generic and species names are in bold print. • Synonyms are indicated by italic script. Synonyms are listed twice: in the alphabetical listing followed by the accepted current name, as well as in parentheses under the current name. • Species names preceded by an asterisk (*) are exotic plants, some of which have become naturalised in Zambian ecosystems. • Genera and species marked ◆ indicate that they have been cited ex lit. for Zambia by Leistner (2004). • The abbreviations following the plant names indicate the provinces where species have been recorded. These provinces differ from those recognized in Flora zambesiaca. For a complete listing of districts in each province, see page 10. Ce Central Province N Northern Province Co Copperbelt Province Nw North-western Province E Eastern Province S Southern Province Lp Luapula Province W Western Province Ls Lusaka Province Distr? Distribution unknown A checklist of Zambian vascular plants A checklist of Zambian vascular plants by P.S.M. Phiri Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 • 2005 • Recommended citation format PHIRI, P.S.M. 2005. A checklist of Zambian vascular plants. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32. SABONET, Pretoria. Produced and published by Southern African Botanical Diversity Network (SABONET) c/o South African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X101, 0001, Pretoria Printed in 2005 in the Republic of South Africa by Capture Press, Pretoria, (27) 12 349-1802 ISBN 99916-63-16-9 © 2005 SABONET. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Editor-in-chief: Marthina Mössmer Scientific editor: Rodney Moffett Subeditors: Nicole Meyer & Lidia Gibson Text design and layout: Suzanne Olivier, Antworks Layout & Design, Pretoria, (27) 72 5072198 Cover design: Suzanne Olivier, Antworks Layout & Design Front cover: Top: A community of Borassus aethiopum (Arecaceae) in the Kafue Basin, Mazabuka District; Bottom from left: A giraffe under Colophospermum mopane in the South Luangwa National Park; Pistia stratiotes (Araceae), a floating aquatic plant on Mfuwe Lagoon, locally known as Tenatena (Bisa & Kunda), South Luangwa National Park (Photos: P.S.M. Phiri). Back cover: Calytropsis procera (Apocynaceae), a shrub confined to low altitude terrains of the Luangwa and Zambezi valleys, on roadside along the Mfuwe Airport road, Luangwa Valley. (Photo: P.S.M. Phiri). SABONET website: www.sabonet.org This report is a product of the Southern African Botanical Diversity Network (SABONET) and was made possible through support provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/World Conservation Union-Regional Office for southern Africa (IUCN ROSA) (Plot no. 14818 Lebatlane Road, Gaborone West, Extension 6 Gaborone, Botswana), under the terms of Grant No. 690-0283-A-00-5950. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the SABONET Steering Committee or SABONET National Working Groups. This book is dedicated to Professor Andrew Anderson Siwela (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D) (1947–2001) for his depth of interest and support in the conservation of biological diversity in Zambia and the southern African region. He served as Secretary of the National Committee of UNESCO’s Man & Biosphere Programme in Zambia, President of the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia, Member of the Steering Committee of IUCN-Regional Office for Southern Africa, and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zambia. Contents Foreword.................................................................................. viii Preface ....................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ................................................................... x Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Climate .................................................................................................... 1 Geology ................................................................................................... 1 Relief and soils ........................................................................................ 3 Biological diversity ................................................................................... 3 Vegetation................................................................................................ 4 Plant endemism....................................................................................... 8 Botanical nomenclature ........................................................................... 9 Guidelines for using the checklist ......................................... 10 Pteridophyta ............................................................................. 12 Gymnospermae ........................................................................ 17 Angiospermae .......................................................................... 18 Dicotyledonae ........................................................................................ 18 Monocotyledonae ................................................................................ 104 Appendix ................................................................................. 139 Endemic species ................................................................................. 139 Near-endemic species......................................................................... 149 References.............................................................................. 151 Index ........................................................................................ 152 Foreword The flora of Zambia is rich, particularly in herbaceous and woody vascular plants. The University of Zam- bia Herbarium, which is the major source of information for this checklist, holds data on 161 species of pteridophytes, 2 species of gymnosperms, 1,748 species of monocotyledons and 4,046 species of dicotyle- donous plants out of which 212 are endemic and 26 are near-endemic species. The rich diversity of the flora of Zambia is reflected in this checklist of Zambian vascular plants. The checklist presents species and localities where specimens were collected. This makes it unique among publications available on the vascular flora of Zambia and an important supplement to the taxonomic publications on the flora of Zambia. The checklist will be particularly useful to ethnobotanists, phytochem- ists, pharmaceutical chemists, conservationists and others who frequently need quick reliable information on the availability of living plant species. Production of this checklist was undertaken with the support of SABONET. An incidental and welcome benefit of the collaboration in SABONET has been the emergence of a close intellectual network of bota- nists in the countries involved, which has stimulated productivity in botanical research in a number of the collaborating countries. It is, therefore, hoped that more publications relating to biodiversity of Zambia will be produced in future. Kasuka Mwauluka Professor of Biology University of Zambia Lusaka viii Preface Significant developments have led to the accumulation of taxonomic data on the plants of Zambia. The earliest botanical collections date back to the 19th century when British explorers collected plants along the mid reaches of the Zambezi river, and Portuguese explorers collected along the Luapula and Kabompo rivers (Exell 1960/61, Phiri and Moore 1998, White 1961). The peak of plant exploration was recorded in the 1960s (Phiri and Moore 1998). C.G. Trapnell pioneered ecological work in the 1930s (Trapnell & Clothier 1996), followed later by extensive ecological studies and reconnaissance surveys of vegetation types by Astle (1965), Fanshawe (1971), Lawton (1964, 1978), and Vesey-Fitzgerald (1963). Floristic accounts have been reported by White (1962), Kornaœ (1979), Phiri (1989), and in a series of Flora zambesiaca publications. Knowledge of the world flora has been divided into four phases (Davis & Heywood 1963): the exploratory phase, which entails the identification of plants; the consolidating phase, in which species are studied in the field and herbarium; the biosystematics phase, involving studies in cytology and geographical variation; and the encyclopaedic phase, which is an all embracing stage that takes into account data on identification, fieldwork, herbarium observations, anatomy, cytology, palynology and phytogeography. The fourth phase seeks to construct taxonomic and evolutionary relationships of plants. The advent of Southern African Botanical Diversity Network (SABONET) has propelled Zambia to achieve some measure of the consoli- dating phase in plant taxonomy. The checklist is one product of the project likely to meet the needs of end users in the fields of ecology, conservation, phytochemistry, traditional medicines, and pharmacy, just to mention a few fields of application. Definitions of essential terms have been included in the introduction. Readers are