Field Guide to Common Trees and Shrubs of East Africa

Najma Dharani, 2002
Paperback, 320 pages, 146x210mm, ISBN: 1-86872-640-1, Approx. R130-00.
Published by Struik, Cape Town.

Given the great diversity of spectacular and interesting trees - and the relatively large numbers of naturalists and nature enthusiasts - it always surprised me that no practical field guide on the indigenous trees of East Africa existed. So, when I saw the cover of this book, I was excited at the prospect of this void at last being filled.

Flipping through the book, it seemed nicely laid out with generally good identification photographs, but the closer I looked, the more disappointed I became. Firstly, the book only covers the most colourful, conspicuous and well-known trees. In this sense, it can hardly be called a 'field guide' as the majority are so familiar that anyone with an interest in plants will already know them. More importantly, there is no 'leaf key,' so a complete beginner would have no way of determining a tree's identity, other than by paging methodically through the book until he or she happened upon a photograph resembling the plant in question. In the author's defence, the back of the book labels it as a 'selective field guide,' which is perhaps more plausible.

Over 300 species are featured, each allocated a page with two or more photographs showing typical shape, flowers and fruits. A high percentage of the featured trees are exotic ornamentals - including Jacaranda, Mango, Neem Tree and various palms. These will be well known to residents of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala who can learn here of the country of origin for each.

The descriptive text alongside each species is informative but scanty. The addition of local names (in Swahili, Kikuyu. Maasai, Kamba, Chagga, Luganda and other languages) is welcome and may help to spread awareness of these important trees. Other than the creation of a 'key' in the introduction (as one finds in most plant field guides), it would also have been valuable to include distribution maps and thumb-nail sketches of the leaf shape and arrangement for each of the featured species. Perhaps these additions can be made in a future edition, as there is potential to turn this book into an East African version of southern Africa's 'Pooley' or 'Palgrave'.

One final criticism is the number of typographical errors which one does not expect to see in a book published by renowned natural history publishers, Struik. On page 28, for example, not only is the scientific name of Acacia gerrardii misspelled, but this mistake is repeated in the vernacular name (which should be Gerrard's Acacia, not Gerrad's Acacia).

In conclusion, a brave first attempt by Dharani, but perhaps the end product was a little too rushed.

- Duncan Butchart -

Posted: Plants by CC Africa, Date: 22 November 2006