Paxie W. Chirwa, Stephen Syampungani, and Coert J. Geldenhuys

4.1 Introduction

The Southern African vegetation is generally referred to as the Zambezian Phytoregion. The region covers over ten countries in Central and Southern Africa lying between latitudes 3° and 26° south with a total area of 377 million ha (White 1983). The region falls within the tropical summer-rainfall zone with a single rainy season (November-April) and two dry seasons, a cool season from May to August and a hot season from September to November (Geldenhuys and Golding 2008). Annual rainfall ranges from 500 to 1,500 mm which decreases from north to south (Chidumayo 1997). The dominant soils of the region are rhodic and Haplic Nitosols and Chromic Xerosols with Calci-Chromic Cambisols and Pellic Vertisols in some places (Chidumayo 1997). The flora includes more than 8,500 species of which 54 % are endemic (Geldenhuys and Golding 2008). Based on variation in rainfall and soils, various distinct vegetation types are observed in Southern Africa.

P. W. Chirwa (H)

Forest Science Postgraduate Programme, University of Pretoria, 5-15 Plant Sciences Complex, Pretoria 0028, South Africa e-mail: paxie. chirwa@up. ac. za

S. Syampungani

School of Natural Resources, Copperbelt University, P. O. Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia e-mail: syampungani@cbu. ac. zm

C. J. Geldenhuys

Department of Forest and Wood Science, University of Stellenbosch, P/Bag X1,

7602 Matieland, South Africa e-mail: cgelden@mweb. co. za

T. Seifert (ed.), Bioenergy from Wood: Sustainable Production in the Tropics, Managing Forest Ecosystems 26, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7448-3__4,

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

4.2 Vegetation Types of Southern Africa

The major vegetation types of Southern Africa include Miombo woodland, undif­ferentiated woodland, Mopane woodland and Semi-arid Shrubland.