Information about the species data pages

The information for a particular species consists of the following. At this stage, some items are missing or incomplete.

• Scientific name plus authority

  The authority is abbreviated in accordance with the standard published in Brummitt & Powell (1992).

• Synonyms

  Included under this term are not only true synonyms but misapplied names and spelling variants.

• Common names

  We have followed a general pattern of capitalising the first word but not the second, e.g. Velvet bushwillow. In a few, rare, cases, we have done something different if the result so produced is ridiculous for some reason.

  The codes used are as follows:

  B Bemba

  E English

  K Kaonde

  Ln Lunda

  Lo Lozi

  Lv Luvale

  Ny Nyanja

  Tz Tonga: Zambia

• Frequency

  A subjective impression, using the following simple scale: common, frequent, occasional, local, rare.

• Status

  Native or Introduced (a simple classification)

• Description

  In drawing up the descriptions of families and genera, these have often been widened to take account of species outside the flora area. However, where all the species in the flora area have a specific character, this has often been noted in the descriptions by the phrase "(in our species)" or simply "(in ours)", thus reducing the space taken up by irrelevant information.

  In the descriptions, reference to an unqualified measurement is to the length of an object. A reference to (for example) 4-5 × 1-2 cm, means the length is 4-5 cm and the width is 1-2 cm. Measurements enclosed in brackets (for example: leaves 7-10(-15) cm) are exceptional cases outside the normal range; however, even these measurements may not be the absolute extremes.

  The length of the species descriptions is variable and is generally longer in the larger families and genera. The species descriptions usually exclude characters already mentioned under the genus; both must be read. Important features have been placed in italics for emphasis.

• Type location

  Brief details of where the type specimen came from.

• Notes

  This is a slot for miscellaneous information about the species which is not dealt with elsewhere.

• Derivation of specific name

  An explanation, where known, of the scientific species name is given.

• Habitat
• Altitude range

  This is given as a range in metres. Note that at present, many of the altitude ranges are incomplete or provisional and further information may well extend these considerably.

• Flowering time
• Worldwide distribution

  For each family, genus and species, the total worldwide number of genera and/or species is given, together with a brief summary of the worldwide distribution. This information has been extracted from various sources, often either from FZ or from Mabberley (1997).

• Zambia distribution (FZ)

  In Flora Zambesiaca, Zambia was divided into 6 divisions. B,N,W,C,E,S.

  Information as to which division each species is to be found has been extracted from Flora Zambesiaca and other published checklists.

• Zambian botanical provinces

  Zambia currently has ten administrative provinces, the tenth Muchinga, having been split from Northern Province recently (2011).

  The following map shows the administrative provinces before the creation of Muchinga: (Source: Wikipedia)

  

  The botanical provinces used here correspond to the administrative provinces except for M, the montane areas of the eastern border, which are divided between Muchinga and Eastern administrative provinces.

  Other recent changes to the administrative provinces involve:

  • Itezhitezhi District – moved from Southern to Central Province;
  • Chirundu – moved from Southern to Lusaka Province.

  For the meantime the Zambia Flora website will retain the former delineation of these provinces. The ordering begins in the north-west and proceeds clockwise to the west:

  Code	Name of Botanical Province	Flora Zambesiaca division
  Nw	Northwestern	W plus Chavuma and Zambezi Districts
  Cb	Copperbelt	W
  Lp	Luapula	N
  N	Northern	N
  Mc	Muchinga	N
  M	Montane	N and E
  E	Eastern	E
  C	Central	C plus Mumbwa district
  Lk	Lusaka	C
  S	Southern	S
  W	Western	B

• Growth form: the following codes are used and have the following meanings:
  
  

  Symbol	Meaning
  A	Annual
  B	Biennial
  C	Climber
  E	Epiphyte
  L	Liane
  Lp	Lithophyte
  P	Herbaceous perennial
  S	Shrub over 2 m
  s	Shrub under 2 m
  T	Tree
  Te	Terrestrial (used in Orchidaceae and ferns only)

• Insects

  Information about species of insects whose larvae eat the particular plant species was sometimes available. We have created pages giving basic information, with images, about each species.

• Literature This comprises a list of literature relevant to this particular species. Literature about the family and/or genus is not repeated here and must be found by viewing the family and genus pages.
• Endemic species code
• Red Data status code
• Content last updated