Undifferentiated Woodlands

The most extensive undifferentiated woodlands are the teak and acacia woodlands. The so called Zambezi teak woodland is dominated by the Baikiaea plurijuga
that occurs in the Kalahari sands especially associated with head waters of the Upper Zambezi and Okavango rivers (Timberlake et al. 2010). Other species associated with Baikiaea include Pterocarpus angolensis, Guibourtia coleosperma and Schinziophyton rautanenii (mungongo). Within the Zambezi teak forest, are five woodland sub-types distinct in species composition; (i) Guibourtia woodland, (ii) Burkea-Erythrophleum woodland (iii) Burkea-Diplorhynchus scrub (iv) Diplorhynchus scrub and (v) Parinari suffrutex savanna. The dominance of species varies from one sub-type to another. However, Amblygonocapus andongesis, Baikiaea plurijuga, Brachystegia floribunda, B. longifolia, B. spiciformis, Burkea africana, Combretum spp, Cryptosepalum exfoliatum ssp. pseudotaxus, Dialium engleranum, Erythrophleum africanum, Guibourtia coleosperma, Isoberlinia angolensis and Parinari curatellifolia seem to be associated with dominance from one sub-type to another. In the drier southeastern parts of the warm dry forest region, open mixed acacia woodlands, dominated by Acacia species (A. nigrescens, A. nilotica, and A. gerrardii) and Combretum are found. Other species include Burkea africana, Terminalia sericea, Kirkia acuminata, Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifolia, Sclerocarya birrea and Zizyphus mucronata. It is floristically richer than either miombo or mopane woodland and are more easily defined by the absence of miombo or mopane dominants (Geldenhuys and Golding 2008).