Newsletter of the Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Volume 6 No. 2 ISSN 1027-4286 July 2001 SABONET: Has it Developed Regional Botanical Expertise? New Series: Invasive Alien Plants in Southern Africa Zambian Orchids Living Plant Collections: Katse, Witwatersrand, Botswana Southern African Herbaria: Zimbabwe SABONET News Vol. 6 No. 2 July 2001 65 c o n t e n t s Features Regulars ON OUR COVER: 70 Profile: Teresa Martins 67 Editorial Florence Nyirenda 68 Letters to the Editors examining grasses during a 72 Profile: Samira Izidine SABONET training course. 86 Computer Viruses II 128 From the Web (Photo: Marthina Mössmer) 87 Recent SABONET Courses 130 The Paper Chase Cover Stories and Meetings 137 Regional News Update 111 SABGN Discussion Group 144 E-mail Addresses 74 SABONET: Developing Regional Botanical Exper- 112 Horticulture: Social and tise Ecological Perspectives 84 Invasive Alien Plants in 116 The GTI Africa Regional Southern Africa Workshop 90 A Survey of the Edible 119 Red Data Lists in Southern Orchids of Zambia Africa 90 Edible Orchids 92 A Closer Look at Zambia’s 122 Perspectives on Cycads in Orchids Africa 100 Living Plant Collections: 135 Book Review: Photographic Katse Guide to Trees 104 Living Plant Collections: 136 Book Review: Succulents of Witwatersrand South Africa 108 Living Plant Collections: 142 Forum Botanicum Botswana 126 Southern African Herbaria: Zimbabwe 136 Book Review 112 Horticulture 100 Plant Collections 122 Cycads 66 SABONET News Vol. 6 No. 2 July 2001 letter from the editors Newsletter of the Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Editors Stefan Siebert Marthina Mössmer EDITORS: STEFAN SIEBERT & MARTHINA MÖSSMER Design and Layout Antoinette Burkhardt Vanilla Design Studio (27) 12 809-0318 s we are nearing the official closing date of the SABONET project—31 March 2002—we have to evaluate what SABONET Reproduction and Printing Business Print Centre has accomplished over the past five years. Has SABONET made A (27) 12 349-2295 a significant and lasting contribution to southern African botany? This question has prompted the SABONET Secretariat to write an article about Subscriptions SABONET’s active contribution towards developing the botanical exper- Nyasha Rukazhanga-Noko tise of the region. Statistics from the activities that SABONET has under- [email protected] taken strongly suggest that the SABONET Project has achieved its main Website goal: developing regional botanical expertise. Read more about this on www.sabonet.org page 74. Submission of Manuscripts We also include reports on the recent Regional Botanical Gardens Work- Marthina Mössmer shop and the Environmental Impact Assessment Course for Botanists, [email protected] See Instructions to Authors on page 68. both held at the National Herbarium, Pretoria, during the past few months. In addition, this issue includes all our regular items—Profile, Southern SABONET News is the official newsletter African Herbaria, Living Collections, From the Web, The Paper Chase,and of the Southern African Botanical Regional News. We also have a new series on invasive alien plants, writ- Diversity Network (SABONET). ten by Lesley Henderson of South Africa’s Plant Protection Research In- stitute. An additional feature from now on will be Forum Botanicum, the news- letter of the South African Association of Botanists. Owing to financial SABONET constraints, Forum Botanicum can no longer be published separately, and National Botanical Institute it will be included in the remaining five issues of SABONET News. Private Bag X101 Pretoria 0001 We want to thank all contributors to this issue for their timely submis- SOUTH AFRICA sions—this has made the task of the editors a lot easier and contributes Tel.: (27) 12 804-3200 Fax: (27) 12 804-5979/3211 greatly to quality of our publication. SABONET News is published in March, You have probably noticed that the newsletter is now published in March, July and November and is distributed free July, and November, instead of April, August, and December. This change of charge. was made to avoid the end-of-year rush during the festive season. We Current number of subscribers: 1 800 trust that it will not affect any of our readers and we hope to be able to Printed on recycled paper. provide you with the third issue of the volume in December 2001 instead This newsletter was made possible through of January 2002—the issue will focus on the Red Data List and will feature support provided by the GEF/UNDP (SABONET a range of articles on this subject. is a GEF Project implemented by the UNDP) and the Regional Centre for Southern Africa, Gaborone, Botswana, US Agency for Interna- tional Development (Plot no. 14818 Lebatlane —Stefan Siebert & Marthina Mössmer Road, Gaborone West, Extension 6 Gaborone), under the terms of the Grant No. 690-0283-A- 00-5950. The opinions expressed in the newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Agency for International Development, the GEF/UNDP, the SABONET Steering Committee or the National Working Groups. SABONET News Vol. 6 No. 2 July 2001 67 letters to the editors [email protected] MEMORIES FROM THE UK years ago. How I would have loved to encounter it in the wild! I am writing to thank you for My congratulations to the find- sending me SABONET News. I ers. have now received three issues and Brachystegia Discovery (Vol. 5 I find them fascinating reading. I No. 3): I was delighted to learn was particularly taken by four re- that South Africa has its own cent articles, which I would like to patch of miombo dominated by comment on briefly. Brachystegia spiciformis—I first The Nyika Expedition (Vol. 5 No. met it in the form of herbarium 1): I found it difficult to imagine specimens in the care of Mr such a large party of botanists mov- A.C. Hoyle at the Oxford For- Participants at the first AETFAT meeting ing about on the Nyika, and collect- est Herbarium in the early in Brussels, Belgium, held in 1951. ing such a large amount of mate- 1950s. He was then the ac- rial. In my days, the Nyika was re- knowledged authority on was a founder member of AETFAT mote, and I remember my own Brachystegia. No one else had a and attended the first two con- frustratingly short visits in the chance because he had borrowed gresses at Brussels and Oxford. I 1950s from the Zambian side. My most of the herbarium material in- was amazed to see the photograph slides show beautiful rolling coun- cluding all of the types! Hoyle’s Bel- of the founder members in confer- try with large patches of evergreen gian and French colleagues used to ence. It triggered in me a bout of forest, which in those days were refer to him as “Monsieur le nostalgia, tinged with a little sad- being encroached upon by fires, Brachystegia” (pronounced “Bra- ness when remembering those fine and I wondered how extensive they shystaysgia”!). Everyone was ea- botanists who have gone to the are today. On the animal side, I viv- gerly awaiting the appearance of happy hunting grounds. The names idly remember the large herds of Hoyle’s monograph of this rather of Aubreville, Duvigneand, Milne- eland, and in the evergreen forests, difficult genus, whose members Redhead and White come to mind the inquisitive blue monkeys. There seemed to have a great propensity immediately. The photograph made were also signs of elephants in the to hybridise with each other. Later a great contrast to that taken at forest, though I did not set eyes on I came to know Brachystegia Meise in August 2000. I thought them. I did enjoy looking through spiciformis well as a tree from my that both articles on AETFAT were the photographs. I liked the one wanderings in Zambia’s wood- admirable and very timely. It is showing the huge pile of specimens lands. I loved the miombo in all sea- good to know that the great organi- collected, and was consoled by the sons, but especially at that time of sation is going from strength to thought that the Nyika is big the year just before the onset of the strength. enough to survive such an on- rains, when the Brachystegia trees I shall conclude by thanking you slaught, now and again. put out their new leaves—what a again for making it possible for me Zambian Cycad (Vol. 5 No. 2): I feast of colour! Take good care of to read your excellent newsletter. was excited by the news of the dis- your Brachystegia patch—so much Keep up the good work. covery of Encephalartos schmitzii in of the miombo elsewhere has been a well-remembered area of the hacked about or destroyed. —Andrew Angus Muchinga Escarpment in Zambia AETFAT Meeting (Vol. 5 No. 3): ‘Rosebank’ where my feet have trodden many This is a subject dear to my heart: I Boarhills, St. Andrews Fife, UK, KY168PR instructions to authors 1) Manuscripts should preferably be in 4) If possible, include colour slides, black-and- 7) Look at the most recent issue of SABONET English. white photographs, or line drawings to News for stylistic conventions. 2) If possible, text should be sent in electronic illustrate articles. If you want to submit 8) SABONET News holds the right to edit any format via e-mail or on a stiffy disk and scanned images with your article, scan received copy. should be in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, them at 300 dpi and save as TIF or JPEG 9) Manuscripts should be sent to Marthina or Rich Text Format. Otherwise, hard copy files. Mössmer. Via e-mail: [email protected] can be sent or faxed to the SABONET 5) Caption all tables, figures, and photographs Hard copy: SABONET, National Botanical head office.