KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium: Research Projects
Currently, two major collaborative projects are housed at the KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium, namely the Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Project and the Zulu Botanical Knowledge (ZBK) Project.
Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Project
Aim of project
The aims of this project are:
- to produce a briefly annotated list of the plants growing (naturally and invasive) in KwaZulu-Natal, and
- to produce an interactive, on-line key to these plants
Contact details
Please use the general KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium address if you wish to contact this project.E-mail: Dr. H.F. Glen
Outputs of the project
In close co-operation with the authors of the forthcoming book Trees of KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern Region: a complete guide, an electronic key to 1100 species of woody plants is nearing completion. It is expected to be made available on the SANBI website in the second quarter of 2009.
Planned Activities of the project
The annotated checklist will follow as a hardcopy publication. The electronic key can be expanded in two ways, either to cover all plants of our province, or to cover woody plants of first southern Africa, then all of sub-Saharan Africa.
Importance of this project
This activity is exactly in line with the long-term aim of SANBI and its predecessors to empower our clients by making botanical information available in a usable form.
Collaboration with other programmes
At a recent meeting at the University of Johannesburg, it was made clear that the electronic key is a necessary adjunct, if not a pre-condition, to the Barcode of Life projects aim to provide DNA barcodes for all African tree species. The hardcopy checklist is similar to other SANBI projects covering the flora of the rest of South Africa.
Zulu Botanical Knowledge (ZBK) Project
Aim of project
The purpose of the Zulu Botanical Knowledge Project is to establish as accurate and as comprehensive as possible an overview of isiZulu plant names, and to publish this in the form of a dictionary of plant names and plant usage (effectively an archive of the Zulu knowledge of plants).
Primary objectives
- To document all isiZulu names for trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses and other plants in KwaZulu-Natal
- To establish the underlying meanings and regional variations of names
- To correct misspelt plant names in existing lists, and the re-assigning of appropriate names where inappropriate names have been allocated
-
Where possible, recording the indigenous botanical knowledge associated with the plants, whether these are used for practical purposes such as hut building, fuel, soap making or carving, for food and drink, or for medical and spiritual purposes. This information is obtained with the prior informed consent of the communities before it is published
Contact Details
Please use the general KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium address if you wish to contact this project
E-mail: M.A. Ngwenya
Achievements
The publication: Ngwenya, M.A., Koopman, A. and Williams, R. 2003. Ulwazi LwamaZulu Ngezimila: isingeniso. Zulu Botanical Knowledge: an introduction. Published by National Botanical Institute (NBI), Natal Herbarium, Durban can be bought from the SANBI Bookshop.
Project's Vision
We are planning to refocus the project so that it has more community involvement and participation from planning stage to implementation stage.
Importance of the project
It documents the botanical knowledge of isiZulu speaking South Africans. It also brings to the herbarium voucher specimens from communal lands, some of which are not well explored botanically.
Involved Parties
The project is guided by a working group of members from SANBI, and the Botany and isiZulu language departments of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Zululand.