African Wildlife & Environment Issue 78

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

buxifolia for what we can also call the Common spike-thorn. Some years later it was changed to Maytenus heterophylla , and then fairly recently it was back to G. buxifolia ! Another classic was that in the 1960s the Grassland tree-fern was Cyathea dregei , then it was changed briefly to Hemitelia dregei and later to Alsophila dregei and now it is back to C. dregei, begging the question to us amateur taxonomists of WHY?

APG (where they use chemistry, genetics and every other tool possible to construct the best possible phylogenetic arrangement of the global flora). There is thus no shortage of information for those wanting to dig and delve. However, the perennial challenge is how can one be certain you have identified your particular tree accurately? One of the greatest challenges we mere mortals face is that with all this scientific work the botanical

Typically the Succulent Karoo is dominated by dwarf shrubs many of which are succulents. The landscapes are generally flat with occasional flat-topped hills - and in summer one can see much bare ground; thanks to long-term over utilisation by domestic stock. Shown here is one of the vygies in full bloom.

Then, of course, there was that great and very upsetting coup, a little more than a decade ago, when 'we' lost the name Acacia for 'our' Thorn-trees , and in the place of Acacia we now have Senegalia and Vachellia (Get over this people, the coup was perfectly legitimate, even if very annoying!!). All this toing and froing with changing and correcting binomials, means that if we had a STANDARDIZED LIST OF COMMON NAMES,

binomials, or the scientific names of plants, keep being changed. This is really annoying to many amateurs, as having just learned the scientific name to have this changed is a painful experience, e.g., Bequaertiodendron magalismontanum changing to Englerophytum magalismontanum , and my worst is Iboza riparia to Tetradenia riparia (thus losing its Zulu root – iBoza)! Other great examples of this for me is that in the 1960s I learned the name Gymnosporia

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