- Title
- Harvesting impacts on commonly used medicinal tree species (Catha edulis and Rapanea melanophloeos) under different land management regimes in the Mpumalanga Lowveld, South Africa
- Creator
- Botha, Jenny, Witkowski, Ed T F, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date
- 2004
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/181379
- Identifier
- vital:43728
- Identifier
- xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.4102/koedoe.v47i2.77"
- Description
- Harvesting of products from plants in the wild is widespread throughout southern Africa. Particularly important products are plant parts used in traditional medicine. However, the impacts of harvesting practices are rarely quantified, with as yet insufficient generic rules across species and life forms. This limits the predictive ability to monitor and manage the affected populations. This paper examines the harvesting impact on two popular woody medicinal species used throughout sub-Saharan Africa, namely Catha edulis (Vahl) Forssk. ex Endl. (bushman’s tea) and Rapanea melanophloeos (L.) Mez. (Cape beech). In both species, basal diameters, heights, and the number of size classes in the harvested populations were lower than in unharvested. Densities of harvested populations were higher in both species, including densities of young plants, but the frequency of individuals in larger size classes was lower. The populations of both species being harvested for medicinal products appeared to be withstanding the current levels of harvesting, but the population structure of C. edulis populations being harvested for poles on the roadside and near human settlements had been substantially altered. Despite the resilience of the two species to harvesting for medicinal products, loss of habitat or changes in land use pose a threat to a number of the assessed populations.
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (18 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- AOSIS Publishing
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Koedoe, Botha, J., Witkowski, E.T.F. and Shackleton, C.M., 2004. Harvesting impacts on commonly used medicinal tree species (Catha edulis and Rapanea melanophloeos) under different land management regimes in the Mpumalanga Lowveld, South Africa. Koedoe, 47(2), pp.1-18, Koedoe volume 47 number 2 p. 1 2017 2071-0771
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the AOSIS Publishing Copyright and licensing Statement (https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/pages/view/policies#part_4)
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
RU Department of Environmental Science
Shackleton, Charles Michael (Distinguished Prof)
SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 15. Life On Land
SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being
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