African Wildlife & Environment Issue 78

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

One of the desert forms of Boscia albitrunca (Sheperd’s tree) where the trunk is not white. Note how there is a precise goats' browse-line.

bumble along with sometimes confusing common names that mean nothing to some of us, but everything to others. Without a standardised list of tree common names in South Africa, if not globally, we, the tree-loving and conservation fraternity, will remain fractured and dislocated, and thus lack empowerment when it comes to our tree heritage, and us being people caring for the earth! There is now growing talk of a South African national tree atlassing project. One was started as TreeMAP in 2010, initially driven by Michelle van der Bank at University of Johannesburg, and her post doctorate student at the time, Olivier Maurin. This atlassing project is managed by bdi® (The Biodiversity & Development Institute). Currently there are 30,427 records in the TreeMAP database; each record is georeferenced and identification in all the sections of the Virtual Museum is done by an

we would not have to be bothered with all these botanical name changes; unless we are to write a paper for a scientific, peer-reviewed journal! Thus, an agreed list of Common Names seems such a simple and obvious solution. The birders did this some years ago (not that all the chosen bird names pleased everybody, particularly some of us older folk with entrenched views! Dikkop = Thick-knee, etc.). In fact, here in South Africa there was once a large committee assembled who deliberated for a few years, in several meetings, and published their suggestion list of standardised tree common names in 2004 as the SAPPI Tree Spotting – Lifer List. Unfortunately, in the professional tree fraternity, and amongst keen amateurs, there was, and I think still is a degree of resistance to this attempt at standardisation (for what reason I cannot be certain). This is such a great pity because we continue to

21 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 78 (2021)