African Wildlife and Environment Issue 64

FAUNA , FLORA & WILDLIFE

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

FOR THE LOVE OF NATURE

Those of us opposed to this change woke up too late – we had been completely outmanoeuvred. This means that officially our Acacias are no longer Acacias . So what does this mean to us? Firstly the good news is that as far as most of us are concerned we can go on and on calling our thorn trees Acacias . However, if we write a scientific paper we must use the now correct names. Thus the matter is simply a galling inconvenience. But more than this, many of us here in South Africa feel cheated – maybe in future we better be more wide awake! I guess that what makes it even more annoying is that when one looks up the derivation of the name ‘ Acacia ’ in the soon to be published IllustratedDictionary Of Southern African Plant Names, the entry for Acacia reads as follows: Acacia *** = Vachellia and Senegalia (Fabaceae) Mill. Gk. akakia = Gk. the name given by early Greek botanist-physician Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40–90) to the Egyptian Thorn, Acacia nilotica , for its medicinal properties. However, this name remains controversial and Southern African ‘ Acacias ’ are now divided into two genera. Gk. ake, akis, a sharp point probably refers to the spines (stipules) that are typical in many of these genera. Basically what this is saying is the name Acacia is Greek for sharp point/spines- which most African Acacias have and often in abundance and with some very stout spines too- and yet almost all Australian species are spineless.

less than 200 species that occur outside Australia). African species of Acacia are now officially known by the genus names of Vachellia (for those with paired straight spines and pom-pom shaped flower heads – so this means that the most widespread and common of South African species once known as Acacia karroo , the Sweet thorn, is now officially Vachellia karroo ) and Senegalia (for those with hooked spines and inflorescences that are elongated – rather like a hairy caterpillar – such as the Common Knob Thorn, Acacia nigrescens , on the volcanic soils of the Kruger Park, that is now officially Senegalia nigrescens ). So what happened? In plant taxonomy the rules that govern the correct naming of botanical binomials (all plants have a genus name and specific name – hence Acacia karroo , or Podocarpus latifolius (the Upright Yellowwood) is that the first, or oldest, scientific name given to the species has preference. Many of us have suffered pain when we have at last learned the botanical name of a particular species only to be told the name has later been changed! Some such changes are obligatory, for example when it is discovered that a species that was first described from Ethiopia and then later discovered in South Africa where it was thought to be different and was given a different name, that this discovery of an older names means that we in South Africa are obliged to use the older name (even if that self-same species is now extinct in Ethiopia). And there are many other reasons for name changes too! As far as Acacia is concerned the first acacia species named were from Egypt - so when the matter was first raised to have all the Australian species to keep the name acacia, there was little initial concern. However what we later learned is that under special circumstances even rules can have deviations, with the right votes in the right committees (all legitimate and perfectly legal). And that is exactly what happened with Acacia – while Africa and the rest of the world ‘slept’, a couple of shrewd ‘taxonomic politicians’ went through the correct committees and procedures and won the name Acacia for the Australian members.

Bryan Havemann

“My parents read me stories from Jock of the Bushveld and I memorized all the pictures. Harry Wolhuter’s Memories of a Game Ranger also had a profound influence on my career choice.”

Eugene Moll emoll@telkomsa.net

Bryan Havemann (left) with the Aerial Census team at Timbavati

Growing up on the southern tip of the African continent was an immense privilege for a young boy who had a natural love of the bush and wild places. From a very early age, when asked what I wanted to be when I grow up, I never hesitated and my answer always was, “a game ranger.” My parents read me stories from Jock of the Bushveld , written by James Percy Fitzpatrick, and I memorised all

the pictures that had been so brilliantly illustrated by E. Caldwell. Harry Wolhuter’s Memories of a Game Ranger also had a profound influence on my career choice. The incredible diversity of living creatures one can enjoy in South Africa, is nothing short of amazing; from tiny pepper ticks the size of pinheads to massive whales the size of houses. However, when I was growing up, my interest was in reptiles, especially snakes. As a young

Umbrella Acacias have iconic, flat crowns

26 | African Wildlife & Environment | 64 (2017)

27 | African Wildlife & Environment | 64 (2017)