In search of a rare cycad in Zambia
In April 1970, Dr Graham Williamson, who was then a resident of Lusaka, donated some preserved material of the female cone and leaflets of a cycad to the Botany Department of the University of Zambia. It was on one of his countrywide collections of orchids that Dr Williamson found this rare plant on a rocky quartzite site near the roadside located about 28.8 km along the Mpika-Chinsali road.
Collecting
Mission
Based on field information found on the label
attached to our museum specimen, the first attempt to rediscover the natural
habitat of this cycad was made at the end of the rainy season in 1972. The
expedition, led by Phiri in his capacity as Senior Technician in the Department
of Biology, concentrated around the Bwingimfumu Hills, covering both districts
of Mpika and Chinsali. The search was in vain, as the team only found a
rich population of Raphia sp.,
a riparian palm that occurs in high rainfall areas of the country. Phiri
had just embarked on part-time studies for his B.Sc. degree—hence his limited
knowledge on the field features of cycad plants at that time!
Cycad
Spotted
About 20 years later, Phiri participated in
a workshop on the conservation of trees in Africa, held in Harare. When
the workshop organisers arranged a visit to the National Botanical Garden,
Phiri was amused to find a living collection of a cycad originally collected
from Zambia, being cultivated in Zimbabwe. A subsequent chat with Mr Bob
Drummond yielded encouraging information on the natural locality of the
cycad in the Northern Province of Zambia.
Renewed
Search
The acquisition of a four-wheel drive vehicle
through SABONET has facilitated greater mobility for the SABONET-Zambia
staff and has led to an intensification of field trips to areas that have
been under-collected in the country. Before mounting a second attempt to
re-locate the Zambian cycad, two preparatory steps were necessary. First,
valuable field experience was gained during the collaborative Nyika Expedition
2000. Second, a photo of Encephalartos
sp., cultivated at the Government Hostels in Zomba, was taken to stimulate
the memory of the folklore taxonomists among the rural residents of Mpika,
who were expected to help in the location of the cycad in Northern Province.
The team that finally set off for Mpika on June 17, 2000, included Mrs Esnart Chupa (Chief Technician in the Division of Forest Research), Miss Angela Gono (Herbarium Research Officer at UZL), Mr A. Shawa (Technical Officer at the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre based at Mount Makulu Herbarium), Mr Annaniah Sakala (Herbarium Technician at UZL), and P.S.M. Phiri (Team Leader). The first night was spent camping at Kanona Basic School in Serenje District. The expedition team arrived in Mpika on June 18 and the Principal of the Zambia College of Agriculture, Mr Champo, kindly offered lodging facilities on the campus. This college is situated 17 km outside Mpika Town, along the main road leading to Tanzania.
Success
The search for the cycad was launched on June
19. Previous records indicated that the female plants of the cycad were
located a few meters from the Mpika-Chinsali road, but the team did not
find the plant on the reported site. After some enquiries were made in nearby
villages, along with the display of the photos of the plants obtained in
Zomba, Mr James Chiluba agreed to guide the team to other localities where
the cycads occur. The local name for the plant is Kanchindu,
and is sometimes also used for palms—it takes a good folklore botanist to
distinguish between a palm and a cycad. After a long drive of more than
20 km into the Forest Reserve, the team found a relict stand of the cycad,
thanks to the cooperation of Mr Chiluba and his colleague. On the return
journey to the College, the vehicle had a punctured tyre, resulting in a
late return to base.
The following day (June 20) was spent carrying out another search for more populations of the cycad in the Forest Reserve: another stand of cycad plants was found within the same area. Specimens were collected, the associated vegetation type was recorded, and soil samples were taken for chemical analysis at the University of Zambia. June 21 was devoted to exploring the southern sector of Mpika, embracing areas of Chief Chikwanda and Chief Mukungule. One of the village headmen, Chendeyende, a renowned hunter, positively confirmed the occurrence of the cycad in the district.
Systematics
and Status
When Dr Williamson made the first collection,
only female plants were recorded in the area. The cycad was initially identified
as Encephalartos poggei, which also occurs
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, Peter Heibloem reports
on the Internet (see website www.pacsoa.org.au./cycads/Encephalartos/cycads)
that the female plant found in Zambia is Encephalartos
schmitzii. The plant that was found by the SABONET-Zambia team had old
male cones, suggesting that this was the first discovery of a male plant.
The plants occur in a gazetted Forest Reserve covered by miombo woodland.
Phiri and Mrs Chupa will soon be preparing a joint report for submission to the Forest Department and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The second phase will entail conducting a thorough inventory of the Bwingimfumu Forest Reserve as a form of a pilot scheme to provide data on the best approach to produce sustainable conservation measures on all forest and botanical reserves in Zambia.
—by Angela Gono and P.S.M. Phiri
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