FIGS OF SOUTHERN & SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICA.

Umdaus Press, Hatfield 2003 stated First Edition.. No inscriptions. an as-new copy in Fine dustwrapper.. Gilt title on plum cloth boards. 379pp illustrated colour photographs and b/w line drawings. large 4to. 320mm x 240mm x 35mm. 2.3kg. Dustwrapper has French folds. Provides detailed information on the 48 native figs (Ficus) of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, & Malawi. Also included are the commonly cultivated figs which were introduced into the region for economic and ornamental horticulture and the other members of the Fig family (Moraceae) found in the region, including the cultivated mulberry (Morus), the breadfruit (Artocarpus), and the timber tree which produces iroko lumber (Milicia). A total of 88 species are covered. Three contributors have written chapters in their own specialist fields. Duncan Butchart provides detailed insight into the role that figs play in the lives of birds, animals, and insects; Dr Simon van Noort illuminates the fascinating world of wasps and their involved relationship with figs, while Geoff Nichols covers the cultivation of figs. Introductory chapters provide a general background to the family Moraceae and figs in the African subcontinent. Each indigenous species has a distribution map, a detailed black and white illustration by Sandra Burrows and photographs depicting habitat, bark, leaves, and fruit. A key to the indigenous species in Southern Africa is provided. The authors traveled more than 70,000k through the above-mentioned countries to track down all but one of the species described in this book, this sorting out some of the nomenclatural problems with which tree-lovers are faced in this part of Africa.