The Illustrated Flora of Burkina Faso and Mali is the primary complete documentation of the exceptional plant range in these two west African international locations.
The brand new illustrated information.
Written in French, the e-book is the end result of a long time of botanical analysis and scientific collaboration between establishments and botanists from Burkina Faso, Mali, France, Switzerland and Germany. For the primary time, it supplies an entire stock of ferns and flowering crops in Burkina Faso and Mali. It catalogues 2,631 species – each native and launched – with 2,115 recognized in Burkina Faso, 1,952 in Mali, and 1,453 shared between each international locations.
That includes over 800 images, 2,631 scientific illustrations, detailed descriptions, distribution maps, and identification keys, it serves as a vital instrument for scientific analysis and biodiversity conservation. It’s additionally helpful for sustainable improvement within the area.
We’re a staff of botanists from Burkina Faso, Mali and Europe who labored on this information. One in every of our staff is the botanist Jean César, who has carried out botanical analysis within the area for over 30 years. We primarily based the information on his earlier work in researching the flora of West Africa, and coaching younger botanists.
The information exhibits how various the local weather of west Africa is. From the Sahara Desert to the Sahelian zone and the savannas and open forests of the Sudanian area.
By figuring out plant species – whether or not frequent, uncommon, overexploited, or invasive – this information can play an important position in conservation efforts: one can solely shield what one is aware of.
The publication lays the groundwork for conservation of Sahelian ecosystems, which face rising degradation with direct penalties for rural communities.
How we got here up with the information
As a staff, we’ve carried out greater than 40 years of analysis in Burkina Faso and Mali, documenting completely different crops. We additionally studied herbarium collections in Paris, Montpellier, Frankfurt and Geneva in Europe and Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso.
Paullinia pinnata L.
Marco Schmidt
We drew from on-line assets equivalent to African Crops – A Photograph Information and the African Plant Database. These compile complete information on African plant biology, distribution and taxonomy (the science of classifying and naming crops).
The e-book is written in French and consists of an index of native plant names within the native languages of Bambara, Dogon, Sonrai, Sénoufo and Peulh. This makes it a helpful useful resource for native communities and researchers alike. There may be an open entry digital model to be sure that everybody can use the brand new illustrated information.
Discovering new and uncommon species
The e-book highlights species beforehand recognized from just a few observations. These are each extensively distributed species and crops which are uncommon, solely present in unprotected areas going through heavy urbanisation.
Oxystelma bornouense R.Br.
Marco Schmidt
About 330 of the plant species within the information have solely ever been seen as soon as in Burkina Faso or Mali, though some are current in neighbouring international locations.
One other 40 near-endemic species (primarily solely present in Burkina Faso and Mali) have solely been seen as soon as 40 years in the past. Most of these are aquatic crops, rising alongside the Niger River, or in small wetland environments.
Moreover, this analysis updates data on greater than 100 poorly understood species that require additional examine. A few of these are seemingly new to science and haven’t even been given formal names. For example, we discovered a brand new kind of Brachystegia tree within the Geneva Botanical Backyard’s herbarium. It’s new to science and must be described.
Capparis decidua (Forssk.) Edgew.
Cyrille Chatelain
Many crops documented right here maintain ethnobotanical worth. They’re a part of the indigenous information of Burkina Faso and Mali and play roles in conventional drugs, agriculture and crafts.
We discovered greater than 120 species which have medicinal makes use of. Figuring out them with appropriate scientific names will likely be essential for the examine of how individuals can proceed to make use of these crops, particularly as drugs.
Collaboration in troublesome occasions
Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth.
Baumann
The hospitality of Sahelian international locations has fostered quite a few collaborations through the years underneath completely different initiatives.
Sadly, the present insecurity within the area has made discipline research extraordinarily harmful, threatening conservation initiatives. For example, forest rangers can not journey freely, and a few areas have grow to be inaccessible.
Mondia whitei (Hook.f.) Skeels.
Baumann
Publishing this e-book at such a troublesome time brings renewed momentum to scientists and serves as a optimistic signal of continued collaboration. It offers visibility to botanical research in each international locations and highlights the significance of collaborations amongst botanists from completely different continents.
By recording this biodiversity, this work not solely preserves helpful ecological information but in addition ensures that the information of those species shouldn’t be misplaced to conflict-driven environmental degradation. It sheds mild on the significance of preserving crops for future generations.
