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Angolan Montane Forest–grassland Mosaic
The Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic ecoregion is located on the east-facing inland side of the belt of mountains that stands parallel to the coast of Angola, 50–100 km inland. Geography These inland slopes are mostly covered with grassland and savanna. The woodland once covered a much larger area but today only patches survive, mainly in deep ravines and on the higher peaks in Huambo and Cuanza Sul provinces, such as Mount Moco (2,620 m), Mount Mepo (2,582 m), Mount Lubangue (2,554 m), Mount Namba (2582 m), and on the Serra da Chela in Huíla Province. The towns of Huambo and Lubango are located at the edge of the ecoregion. Climate The area has a wet summer and some mist and rainfall year-round so water is fairly abundant though in the dry season obtainable in some places only by digging in the sandy beds of the rivers. Flora Open montane grassland is the predominant plant community above 1600 meters elevation. In the dry season fires are common and the dry gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Moco
Mount Moco (Portuguese: ), at , is the highest mountain in Angola. It is located in Huambo Province in the western part of the country, west of the city of Huambo.''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 754. Mount Moco was named one of Angola's "seven wonders" in 2014. The mountain is a destination for birdwatchers, hikers, and people participating in rappelling and paragliding. Flora and fauna The mountain's Afromontane forests are part of the Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic bioregion. Flora Mount Moco is largely under-researched and has been visited by very few botanical surveyors. It is known to have several species of ''Protea'' and other flowering plants, many of which appear in July through September after grassland fires have settled. Birdlife Mount Moco is home to many birds, with around 233 species recorded at the site. It has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International and is part of the Western Angola Endemic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyparrhenia
''Hyparrhenia'' is a genus of grasses. Many species are known commonly as thatching grass. They are mostly native to tropical Africa; some can be found in warmer areas in temperate Eurasia, Australia, and Latin America. These are annual and perennial bunch grasses. The inflorescence branches into twin spikes of paired spikelets. ; Species * '' Hyparrhenia anamesa'' - dry Africa from Ethiopia to Cape Province * '' Hyparrhenia andongensis'' - Angola * '' Hyparrhenia anemopaegma'' - Zambia * ''Hyparrhenia anthistirioides'' - dry Africa from Eritrea to Malawi * ''Hyparrhenia arrhenobasis'' - Ethiopia * ''Hyparrhenia bagirmica'' - West Africa * ''Hyparrhenia barteri'' - from Burkina Faso to Malawi * ''Hyparrhenia bracteata'' - Africa (from Mali to Zimbabwe), Thailand, Vietnam, New Guinea, Latin America (from Veracruz to Paraná) * ''Hyparrhenia claytonii'' - Ethiopia * ''Hyparrhenia coleotricha'' - Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen * ''Hyparrhenia collina'' - dry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swierstra's Spurfowl
Swierstra's spurfowl (''Pternistis swierstrai'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found only in Angola in the rapidly shrinking Afromontane forests of peaks such as Mount Moco and Mount Soque. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. The scientific name commemorates the South African entomologist Cornelis Jacobus Swierstra. Taxonomy Swierstra's spurfowl was described in 1929 by the South African zoologist Austin Roberts from a specimen that had been collected in Mombola, Angola. He coined the binomial name ''Chaetopus swierstrai'', choosing the specific epithet to honour the South African entomologist Cornelis Jacobus Swierstra. The species is now placed in the genus '' Pternistis'' that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. Swierstra's spurfowl is monotypic: no subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulton's Batis
Margaret's batis (''Batis margaritae'') or Boulton's batis, is a species of small passerine bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae. It is found in south western central Africa. Taxonomy Margaret's batis was described by the American zoologist Wolfrid Rudyerd Boulton in 1934. The binomial and common names honour the American historian and novelist Margaret Leech (1893-1974). Two subspecies are recognised: *''B. m. margaritae'' Boulton, 1934 – Mount Moco in western Angola. *''B. m. kathleenae'' White, C.M.N. 1941 – southern Democratic Republic of Congo in southern Katanga and north western Zambia; possibly also in the extreme east of Angola, in eastern Moxico. Description Margaret's batis is a small, mainly black and white shrike-like bird with a black face mask and reddish eye, in a mainly dark grey head. They have white underparts with a broad black breast band in both sexes, with black wings which are marked in the male with a white wing stripe while the female ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ilex Mitis
''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straight and dense. Appearance If not pruned, ''Ilex mitis'' can grow to a height of 20 meters or more. Its trunk is straight, grey or brown and usually spotted while it produces a dense, even canopy. Young growth and leaf-stalks tend to be purple or red. The simply shaped, pointed, shiny-green leaves have wavy margins that are sometimes slightly serrated. The tree can be identified by its purple or maroon leaf stalks and the leaves’ strongly impressed midribs. The small, white, scented flowers appear in spring. Ilex mitis is dioecious, with separate male and female trees. The bright red fruits ripen in autumn, creating a colourful display and attracting a variety of birds. Range and habitat This is the only holly (''Ilex'') species nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olea
''Olea'' ( ) is a genus of about 40 species in the family Oleaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Middle East, southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and Australasia. They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves. The fruit is a drupe. Leaves of ''Olea'' contain trichosclereids. For humans, the most important and familiar species is by far the olive (''Olea europaea''), native to the Mediterranean region, Africa, southwest Asia, and the Himalayas, which is the type species of the genus. The native olive (''O. paniculata'') is a larger tree, attaining a height of 15–18 m in the forests of Queensland, and yielding a hard and tough timber. The yet harder wood of the black ironwood ''O. capensis'', an inhabitant of Natal, is important in South Africa. ''Olea'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including double-striped pug. Species Species accepted: # ''Olea ambrensis'' H.Perrier - ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halleria Lucida
''Halleria lucida'' (also known as tree fuchsia, umBinza or notsung) is a small, attractive, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Southern Africa. It is increasingly grown as an ornamental tree in African gardens. Appearance This tree has lush, glossy, bright-green foliage on arching and drooping branches. It is often multi-stemmed and can eventually reach a height of over 15m. The way that the dense foliage droops from the hanging branches gives the tree a willowy appearance. ''Notsung'' is unusual in producing its flowers and fruit, not from the tips of its branches like most flowering trees, but from its trunk, exhibiting what is known in botany as cauliflory. This characteristic is also found in other Southern African trees such as Stamvrug. The orange or purple flowers are rich in nectar and bi-sexual. The small, fleshy fruits are edible (but do not taste particularly good). It is a member of the Snapdragon family. Distribution The natural range of this tree extends thro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syzygium Guineense
''Syzygium guineense'' ( bm, Kokisa) is a leafy forest tree of the family Myrtaceae, found in many parts of Africa both wild and domesticated. Both its fruits and leaves are edible; the pulp and the fruit skin are sucked and the seed discarded. It is sometimes called "waterberry", but this may also refer to other species of ''Syzygium''. ''Syzygium guineense'' is a highly variable species, leading to debate concerning its taxonomy, including its subspecies. Frank White lists four subspecies: ''afromontanum'', ''barotsense'', ''guineense'', and ''huillense'', the last of which is a suffrutex. However, many other subspecies and varieties have been proposed. Its height is usually between 10 and 15 meters, but some specimens have been found as tall as 25 meters. The trunk is broad and fluted and the crown rounded and heavy, with a bark that is smooth when young, but becomes rough and black with age. The branches are dropping, the stems are thick and angular. The young leaves are pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pittosporum Viridiflorum
''Pittosporum viridiflorum'' (Cape cheesewood, af, Kasuur, st, Kgalagangwe, xh, Umkhwenkwe, zu, Umfusamvu) is a protected tree in South Africa. Morphology The leaves are obovate with margin entire and wavy, conspicuous net veining, crowded at ends of branches. Often with a single mis-formed leaf. The midrib has a yellow colour and the leaf has a brilliant green colour when viewed against the light. Fruit borne in clusters at the end of branches, yellow becoming brown, dehiscent with four bright red seeds covered with a sticky exudate with a faintly sweet smell. The bark has brown lenticels. Distribution ''Pittosporum viridiflorum'' ranges across Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly in the east from Ethiopia to South Africa and occasionally to the west. It is also found in Yemen and India.Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2021-08-06. Habitat ''Pittosporum viridiflorum'' is found in drier forest and evergreen bushland, rain forest, farmland derived from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apodytes Dimidiata
''Apodytes dimidiata'' (white pear or umDakane) is a bushy tree with white flowers bearing a fragrance reminiscent of fresh coconut, and small black and red fruits. It is usually about 5 m tall (but reaches a height of 20 m when growing in deep forest), and it is indigenous to Southern Africa. The taxonomical family placement for this and other ''Apodytes'' was uncertain; it is now placed in the Metteniusaceae. Its English common name is in reference to the timber which is similar in appearance to that of the European pear tree of the northern hemisphere. Description In the open, this evergreen species grows as a tall shrub or small tree of about 5 m in height. However, in a more shady environment, such as deep afro-montane forest, it can reach a height of over 20 m. Its dense, shiny foliage is bright-green and it has smooth, gray bark. It frequently produces masses of tiny, white, bisexual blossoms which have a sweet fragrance. These are followed by strang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyscias Fulva
''Polyscias fulva'' is a species of flowering plant. It is an evergreen or deciduous tree, native to the mountains of tropical Africa and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. Accessed 3 March 2022. Description ''Polyscias fulva'' is a deciduous or evergreen tree, with a straight trunk and a small umbrella-shaped crown. It can grow to 25 to 30 meters in height. It has a straight trunk, which is unbranched for most of its height. The trunk is unbutressed, and can grow up to 100 cm in diameter. The foliage is composed of large compound leaves, which grow in bunches at the top of the branches. The leaflets are dark green on the top, and white and tomentose on the underside. It is similar in form and foliage to '' Polyscias kikuyuensis'', but is distinguished by its flowers. The tree is typically fast-growing. In plantations in Cameroon, seedings can grow to 2–3 meters in height within four years, and within 20 years can gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocarpus Latifolius
''Podocarpus latifolius'' (broad-leaved yellowwood or real yellowwood, af, Opregte-geelhout, nso, Mogôbagôba, xh, Umcheya, zu, Umkhoba) is a large evergreen tree up to 35 m high and 3 m trunk diameter, in the conifer family Podocarpaceae; it is the type species of the genus ''Podocarpus''. The real yellowwood has been declared the national tree of South Africa and is protected there. Appearance The real yellowwood is a large evergreen tree that grows up to 30 meters in height. It grows relatively slowly but forms a wood of exceptional quality. The leaves are strap-shaped, 25–40 mm long on mature trees or up to 100 mm long on young trees, and 6–12 mm broad, with a bluntly pointed tip. The species name ''"latifolius"'' is Latin for "broad-leaved". The bright-coloured foliage of new growth stands out against the dark leaves of mature foliage. The cones of this dioecious tree are berry-like, with a single (rarely two) 7–11 mm seed apical o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
