East African Coastal Ecosystem Will Resurrect As Indigenous Plants Are Nurtured

A team of people is writing a book on the native plants of coastal East Africa.

The team includes members from International School of Tanganyika Roots and Shoots Club, Missouri Botanic Garden, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences Environment Committee, and University of Dar es Salaam Herbarium.

We thought it would take about six months and now we find we have been working on it for over two years, and are not finished yet. The aim of the book is to increase people's awareness of the value of indigenous flora wherever they live, and that of the coastal East African in particular.

The East African coastal ecosystem - the coastal strip running from southern Kenya, through Tanzania, to northern Mozambique - is uniquely wonderful in the world. East African coastal forests are one of the world's most biologically diverse regions, and home to many species specifically found only in this region. It is already about 90% destroyed. - and the destruction continues.

The book will be a reference to help people distinguish between which plants are indigenous and which are not. The hope is that the information provided will enable people living in the coastal areas of East Africa to plant the species which are unique to this area, which have evolved to provide particular ecosystem functions and are most conducive to the conditions found in Pwani.

If we would plant the indigenous flora, the original ecosystem would begin to restore, to mend, to heal. This book arose out of the authors' desires to be part of the resurrection (kufufuka) of the ecosystem. It was extremely difficult to figure out what belongs.

Most people living in Pwani region have no personal knowledge of what this region's original ecosystem is. Manyof the plants you see in coastal Tanzania that you might think are native, often are not. This book is being written because of the lack of common knowledge about the coastal flora of eastern Africa. The book is organized with an introduction to the East African coastal ecosystem.

The second chapter identifies about 100 native species specific to the ecosystem of southern Kenya, coastal Tanzania, and northern Mozambique. The plants were chosen from the 4,500 plants of the East African coastal region. They were chosen by consulting with the results of the Frontier-Tanzania Coastal Forest Research Programme and many experts.

We considered importance, rarity, and availability. We considered which ones are suitable for domestication. We verified plants with the actual plant specimens of UDSM Herbarium, and the Mobot (Missouri Botanic Gardent) data base. For each plant there are photos of the whole plant, leaves, and fruit. Preliminary research was done by the IST Roots and Shoots Club members.

The third chapter describes many of the ornamental non-native species. There are fewer details in this chapter because the non-natives are much more familiar and easy to find information about. Many are easily recognizable by their show-y flowers.

The fourth chapter gives tips about how to plant and garden in the unique patterns of coastal East Africa - months of drought followed by heavy rain. The fifth chapter gives suggestions about where to plant. Wherever they were once found, indigenous plants should be returned to gardens, byways, roadways, parks, traffic roundabouts, petrol stations, schools, places of worship, hotels, in residential and commercial garden spaces, at schools, in city open spaces including graveyards, and along streets throughout urban and residential areas.

At the back are references, and resources about where to find the plants, and appendices with recipes. People like plants with household uses. Such trees which are indigenous to coastal East Africa are Mkwaju (Tamarindus indica), Mbungo (Saba comorensis), Mhina (Lawsonia inermis), Mbuyu (Adansonia digitata), Mng'ongo (Sclerocarya caffra, Eng. Amarula), and Aloe (Aloe segundo).

Widely used household products made from these plants are: tamarind juice, paste, and condiment; ubungo juice; henna dye; ubuyu oil and juice; amarula jam and liqueur; aloe soap and drink.