8.1. LIST OF PRIORITY SPECIES
8.2. MEDICINAL PLANTS OCCURRING WITHIN THE FOREST
8.3. DEGREE OF MANAGEMENT
8.4. KNOWLEDGE OF FOREST RESOURCES
Malawi’s indigenous fine hardwoods that yield high-grade timber make up the priority list of species for conservation due to demand on their products. This list includes Pterocarpus angolensis, Milicia (formerly Cholophora) excelsa, Afzelia quanensis, Adina microcephala, Dalbergia melanoxylon and Widdringtoni nogiflora. These are among the most commonly used hardwood species. Less commonly used fine hardwoods are Albezia lebbeck, Burkea africana, P. stolzii, Adina microcephala, Burttdavya nyasica and Newtonia buchananii. Most of these species grow slowly, attaining harvestable sizes between 80 and 100 years. On favorable sites, rotational ages can be reduced by 10 years in both cases through plantation silviculture (Appendices 3 and 4).
Herbalists in Malawi primarily collect medicinal plants from natural forests or woodlands. Habitats in the vicinity of many herbalists are subject to more collecting pressure threatening the survival of medicinal plants (Mwanyambo and Nihero, 1998). Commonly used medicinal plants that have been identified as endangered are Dioscorea sylvatica, Erythrophleum suavoelens, Erythrina abysinica, Cassia abbreviata, Aloe cryptopoda, Diplorrynchus condylocarpon, Ficus natalensis and Pterocarpus angolensis.
Other fine hardwoods, that have undergone screening trials during the 1950s, include Tectona grandis, Entandrophragma utile, E. senegalensis, Khaya senegalensis, K. grandifolia, Maesopsis eminii, Toona ciliata, Melia azedarach, Erythrophleum suaveolens (formerly guineense) and Lovoa brownii. Some of these species are now being planted while others have been identified as community seed collection areas, and local communities respect such stands (as they sale seed to the National Tree Seed Centre at FRIM for processing and onward selling to the Nation, appendix 5).
Despite the fact that indigenous forests and woodlands are source of valuable timber, knowledge of current stocks, growth rates and levels of exploitation is limited. The inventory mapping conducted jointly by the Swedish Space Corporation and the Forestry Department was a useful preliminary step. This needs to be followed up with more detailed inventory on the ground for quantification of densities and volume.
