The casual, naturalised and invasive alien flora of Zimbabwe based on herbarium and literature records

Koedoe - African Protected Area Conservation and Science

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The casual, naturalised and invasive alien flora of Zimbabwe based on herbarium and literature records
 
Creator Maroyi, Alfred
 
Subject Environmental management Alien plant species; casual; invasive; naturalised; Zimbabwe
Description Zimbabwe’s casual, naturalised and invasive alien plant species were analysed with regard to their habit, origin, mode or purpose of introduction and their invasion status in the country. This alien flora of 391 taxa belonged to 239 genera and 73 families, corresponding to 6.6% of the total flora of Zimbabwe. Of these, 153 (39.1%) plant species were casual aliens, 154 (39.4%) were naturalised and 84 (21.5%) were invasive species. Most invasions in terms of numbers of alien species were in the central and eastern parts of the country. Asteraceae (53 species), Poaceae (48 species) and Fabaceae sensu lato (49 species) families were prominent in all the floristic regions of the country. Annual and perennial herbaceous species formed the majority of life forms of the casual, naturalised and invasive alien flora of Zimbabwe. Genera with the highest number of alien species were Ipomoea with nine species, Acacia and Euphorbia with eight species each, Chenopodium and Senna with seven species each, Eucalyptus with six species, Oenothera, Physalis and Solanum with five species each. More than 49.6% of the alien plants in Zimbabwe originated primarily from South, Central and North America, followed by Europe (24.6%), Asia (23.8%), Africa (10.5%) and Australasia (5.9%).Conservation implications: This research provides baseline information and historical invasion patterns of casual, naturalised and invasive alien flora in Zimbabwe. This inventory is a crucial starting point in trying to understand and initiate the management of biological invasions. This is also important for monitoring new introductions and management of existing alien plants in Zimbabwe.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2012-10-09
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/koedoe.v54i1.1054
 
Source Koedoe; Vol 54, No 1 (2012); 6 pages 2071-0771 0075-6458
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1054/1413 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1054/1432 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1054/1414 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1054/1412 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1054/1411
 
Coverage Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2012 Alfred Maroyi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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