ABC Useful Plants of Malawi: Economical & Commercial

Elizabeth Mwafongo

doi:10.15468/5yvniw

ABC Useful Plants of Malawi: Economical & Commercial

Citation

Mwafongo E (2022). ABC Useful Plants of Malawi: Economical & Commercial. Version 1.4. National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/5yvniw accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-05-18.

Description

The dataset contains indigenous plants that are used commercially in Malawi and have commercial values. The economic importance of these species have been documented in several published and unpublished papers in Malawi. Although these species are not documented in the Malawian Red Data List, their wide use in the commercial companies in Malawi warrant their evaluation. The current list consists of only 4 species among many which require to be evaluated as they may be under great threat. These specimens were collected by different botanists throughout the country on general collection trips and deposited at the National Herbarium and Botanical Gardens of Malawi. Please note that the present dataset does not represent the entire geographical range of the species because some have no coordinates. In recent years, NHBG has done more taxon sampling but these haven’t been digitized fully as the digitization process only began in 2017. The number of collections can be estimated at above 3000.

Purpose

The dataset ids part of the African Biodiversity Challenge project whose aim is to mobise data for scientific work. Furthermore, the dataset will help with evaluation of these species using IUCN red list categories in Malawi which is currently an ongoing process.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

This work will only publish data from Malawi

Sampling

The datasets are being mobilised and entered in BRAHMS database and extracted from there for publishing. Most data on occurence and checklists are in mobilized from Library archives and are entered into DwC templates and published thereafter.

Quality Control

Quality control is done using web based programs eg OpenRefine

Method steps

This data can be retrieved from the BRAHMS database at MAL when needed.

Taxonomic Coverages

The present list consists of plants which are used widely used commercially in Malawi and the species are; Adamsonia digitata, Kigelia africana, Strophantus kombe and Tamarindus indica.

Adansonia digitata
common name: Malambe rank: species
Kigelia africana
rank: species
Strophanthus kombe
rank: species
Tamarindus indica
common name: Bwemba rank: species

Geographic Coverages

Samples are from Malawi

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Elizabeth Mwafongo
originator
position: Senior Scientific Officer
National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi
P.O. Box 528
Zomba
Telephone: +265 999746432
email: emwafongo@yahoo.com

Elizabeth Mwafongo
metadata author
position: Senior Scientific Officer
National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi
P.O. Box 528
Zomba
MW
Telephone: +265 999746432
email: emwafongo@yahoo.com

Eliza Mwafongo
user
email: emwafongo@yahoo.com

Elizabeth Mwafongo
administrative point of contact
position: Senior Scientific Officer
National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi
P.O. Box 528
Zomba
MW
Telephone: +265 999746432
email: emwafongo@yahoo.com