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Flora of Tropical East Africa

This Flora deals with the higher plants of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Some 12,500 plants will be treated, for a series of habitats varying from beach to the highest point in Africa, and from wetland to desert.

This Flora is a long-standing Kew commitment whose inception dates back to 1949, with the first part published in 1952; it is finally coming to completion (see Annex 1). While it is labour-intensive and slow, it is still of great value: before this project, literature was scattered and piecemeal, and many plant groups were virtually unexplored.

The Flora deals with the 12,500 plant species occurring wild in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. These three countries occupy an area of 1,766,000 km², roughly the size of the UK, the Benelux countries, France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Italy combined. Because of climate and geology, vegetation types vary from desert to rainforest, from tropical beaches to alpine moorlands. Many species are restricted to the Flora area (endemics); many species are of economic importance, varying from minor and local use to major economic importance. Increasing population and land-use cause many species to be of conservation concern, and recently published Flora parts therefore include conservation status assessments of the species treated.

Some 240 families are treated for the Flora, and families are published as they have been written. 122 authors have been, or are, involved; of these, the majority have come from Kew itself, but there is much collaboration (see Annex 2) with colleagues from many institutes either co-writing, or writing; sixteen families have been written up, or are being written, by authors from the Flora area.

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