Newsletter of the Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Volume 8 No. 1 ISSN 1027-4286 March 2003 SABONET Progress Report Using Interpretive Labels Mateku Expedition Zimbabwe Threatened Plants Programme SABONET News Vol. 8 No. 1 March 2003 1 contents 22 African Botanic Gardens Network Launched Forum 25 Annual Logframe Planning Botanicum ON OUR COVER: A true giant herb. and Budget Allocation Flowering specimens of the giant Meeting 58 SAAB Gold Medal: Prof. Lobelias in Chimanimani. Chris Bornman (Photo: Anthony Mapaura) 26 Progress Report: End-User Workshops, Threatened 59 The 2001 Compton Prize Plants Programmes, and 59 SAAB Silver Medal for Cover Stories Internships Botany: Prof. Brian Huntley 31 Obituary: Lloyd Gideon 60 Dr Otto Leistner Silver 7 Using Interpretive Labels Nkoloma (1944–2003) Medallist (2003) 8 Mateku Expedition 30 A Tribute to SABONET 62 Richard Hall Accepts Certifi- 20 Zimbabwe Threatened Plants Contract Staff cate of Merit Programme 34 Luanda Herbarium 26 SABONET Progress Report Features Book Reviews 42 A Checklist of Lesotho 5 Profile: Nonofo E’man Grasses Published Mosesane 43 Regions of Floristic Ende- 5 Farewell Nyasha! mism in Southern Africa 6 Profile: Puleng Matebesi 44 Trees and Shrubs of 7 Using Interpretive Labels to Mpumalanga and Kruger 36 Paper Chase Help Save Threatened National Park Plants—a Case Study 45 Pteridophytes of Upper 8 SABONET Expedition Katanga (DRC) Reveals Mateku Plant Diversity Regulars 15 The Millennium Seed Bank in 3 Editorial Southern Africa 4 Letters to the editors 17 Sedges of Southern 35 From the Web Mozambique 36 The Paper Chase 44 Book Review 18 IUCN Policy on the 46 Regional news update Management of Ex Situ Populations 51 E-mail addresses 20 Threatened Plants Programme for Zimbabwe 8 Mateku Expedition 20 Threatened Plants—Zimbabwe 2 SABONET News Vol. 8 No. 1 March 2003 letter from the editors Newsletter of the Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Editors Stefan Siebert EDITORS: STEFAN SIEBERT & MARTHINA MÖSSMER Marthina Mössmer elcome to the first of our new leaner editions of SABONET News— Design and Layout we are sure that you will still find it an interesting read and a source Antoinette Burkhardt Wof information on southern African botany. Vanilla Design Studio (27) 82 909-0109 In response to the 2001 Mid-Term Review recommendations, the SABONET Reproduction and Printing Steering Committee listed end-user workshops, threatened plants programmes, Business Print Centre and internships as priority activities to gather information for a new project, (27) 12 349-2295 achieve conservation impact on the ground, and give greater support to the production of tangible outputs. In this issue, we discuss progress made with Subscriptions these three initiatives (page 26). [email protected] Website Another of our cover stories reports on a SABONET-sponsored field trip to www.sabonet.org Pondoland, South Africa—a group of thirteen plant enthusiasts surveyed the area and they share their interest and experiences with us on page 8. Submission of Manuscripts Marthina Mössmer In addition, this issue includes all our regular items—Profiles, Southern African [email protected] See Instructions to Authors on page 168. Herbaria, The Paper Chase, and Regional News. We have three book reviews in this issue, starting on page 43. The South African Association of Botany’s Forum SABONET News is the official newsletter Botanicum section (page 58) is packed with articles on the recipients of various of the Southern African Botanical prestigious SAAB awards. Diversity Network (SABONET). As we wrote in the previous issue’s Letter from the editors, SABONET will be focussing on producing publications this year. A checklist of Lesotho grasses has just been published (page 42) and checklists of the trees of Botswana and the grasses of Namibia are in press. We remind all participants that the closing date SABONET for the submission of manuscripts for the SABONET Report Series is 30 June National Botanical Institute 2003—late submissions will be placed on a waiting list and may not be pub- Private Bag X101 lished! Pretoria 0001 SOUTH AFRICA Tel.: (27) 12 804-3200 On the subject of books, we are delighted to report that the SABONET publica- Fax: (27) 12 804-5979/3211 tion Southern African Plant Red Data Lists received Second Prize in the Books Category of the Annual Award of Quality Printing of the Printing Industries Fed- eration of South Africa (Northern Chamber), during the International Pretoria SABONET News is published in March, July and Show. Congratulations to everyone involved in producing this award-winning November and is distributed free of charge. book! Printed on acid-free Dukuza Plus Matte coated paper, which We were all saddened to hear of the death of Lloyd Nkoloma, Curator of the contains a minimum of 60% bagasse—the residue remaining National Botanic Gardens of Malawi. This issue includes an article written by after sugar has been extracted Lloyd shortly before his sudden death (News from Malawi, page 46), as well as from sugar cane. an article by John Roff on Lloyd’s SABONET internship at Natal National Bo- tanical Garden, during which they developed interpretative labels for the bo- This newsletter was made possible through support tanic garden in Zomba (page 7). We extend our condolences to Lloyd’s family provided by the GEF/UNDP (SABONET is a GEF and colleagues. Project implemented by the UNDP) and the Regional Centre for Southern Africa, Gaborone, Botswana, US Agency for International Develop- Finally, some news from the Regional Office: Nyasha Rukazhanga-Noko, our ment (Plot no. 14818 Lebatlane Road, Gaborone SABONET Administrative Officer, has resigned to take up a position as a Senior West, Extension 6 Gaborone), under the terms of Human Resource Personnel Officer at the National Botanical Institute of South the Grant No. 690-0283-A-00-5950. The opinions expressed in the newsletter are those of the Africa. Read more about Nyasha on page 5. authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Agency for International Development, the —Stefan Siebert & Marthina Mössmer GEF/UNDP, the SABONET Steering Committee or the National Working Groups. SABONET News Vol. 8 No. 1 March 2003 3 letters to the editors [email protected] PRAISE FOR RED DATA LISTS BOOK hank you very much for send- ongratulations on your excel- Ting me the book Southern Afri- Clent publication Southern Afri- can Plant Red Data Lists. I am very can Plant Red Data Lists, which I pleased to receive this report. Ob- was very pleased to receive. I found viously a great deal of expertise, this publication extremely motivat- effort, and coordination of re- ing. An excellent example for re- sources went into this excellent gional plant conservation activities, compilation. With best wishes to and one that IUCN is pleased to SABONET for continued success in support. Thanks for your commit- their endeavours. ment and devotion. —Peter H. Raven —Achim Steiner Director Director General Missouri Botanical Garden The World Conservation Union St. Louis (IUCN) United States of America Gland Switzerland was very pleased to receive your Ipublication Southern African ongratulations with the publi- Plant Red Data Lists. I would like to Ccation of Southern African express my satisfaction with this Plant Red Data Lists. The book is a product. milestone and a much needed “text- —Mary Sancy book” for conservationists. The ver- Senior Programme Officer sions in Portuguese will make this United Nations Institute for Training information accessible to many and Research people in Mozambique and Angola. Geneva Switzerland —Salomao Bandeira Department of Biological Sciences Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Maputo Mozambique 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. clearly on a separate sheet. Include Institute, Private Bag X101, Pretoria 0001, 3) Tables and charts should be in one of the photographer credits. SOUTH AFRICA. Fax: (27) 12 804-5979/ following formats: Microsoft Excel, Quattro 6) Each author should provide name, 3211. Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, or Harvard Graphics. affiliation, postal address, telephone and fax 10) Submissions for the next issue should Data must be supplied with charts. numbers, and an e-mail address (if reach the editors before 30 June 2003. applicable). Late submissions will not be included. 4 SABONET News Vol. 8 No. 1 March 2003 Gallery. In 1993 he was offered a one- to the head of Natural History, Mr Ulf year diploma course on conservation Nermark, who served as the National management with the University Col- Coordinator for SABONET-Botswana, Profile lege of London (UCL). He was as- in 1998. He attended the September signed the responsibility of the conser- 1998 Botanic Gardens Conservation vation of cultural objects in the Ethnol- International (BGCI) Conference in ogy/Ethnography Division of the Na- Cape Town, South Africa. He partici- tional Museum. He has published ar- pated in the needs assessment exercise ticles in the institution’s magazine, The of the Botswana National Botanical Zebra’s Voice. Garden. In 2000 the Botswana Govern- ment sponsored him for an MSc de- He was nominated as a visiting assist- gree at the University of Stellenbosch.