Useful tree species for Africa: A species selection tool based on The Vegetation Map of Africa

Frank White published a vegetation map of Africa at a scale of 1 : 5,000,000 [ i.e. 1 mm on the map represents 5 km in the real world] comprising three map sheets, a legend and an accompanying descriptive memoir in 1983 (a French translation was published in 1986). This map was prepared by the Vegetation Map Committee (consisting of A. Aubréville, L.A.G. Barbosa, L.E. Codd, P. Duvigneaud, H. Gaussen, R.E.G. Pichi- Sermolli, H. Wild and F. White) of AETFAT ( the Association pour l' tude de la Flore de l' Afrique Tropicale ) after UNESCO had invited AETFAT to collaborate in mapping the world's vegetation at a scale of 1 : 5,000,000. We mostly studied the mainland Africa sections of t his vegetation map. Mapping units of the Vegetation Map of Africa reflect both a physiognomic ( i.e. based on vegetation structure) and a phytochoristic ( i.e. based on floristics and areas of plant endemism) classification system of African vegetation types . In the legend of the map, mapping units are grouped according to physiognomy. In the descriptive memoir, the mapping units are grouped according to the phytochoria. For example, mapping unit 2 (drier types of Guineo- Congolian forest) is listed in the leg end as one of the ten forest vegetation type s, whereas descriptions for this mapping unit are given in chapters of the memoir describing the Guineo- Congolian Region, the Guineo- Congolia to Zambezia transition zone , the Guineo- Congolia to Sudania transition zone and the Lake Victoria mosaic

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