Sixty - Six Transvaal Trees - B. de Winter, Mayda de Winter and D.J.B Killick
Sixty - Six Transvaal Trees - B. de Winter, Mayda de Winter and D.J.B Killick
Hardcover, ISBN none
Publisher: Botanical Research Institute, Department of Agricultural Technical Services-, October, 1965 - February, 1966
Issued on the occasion of the Republic Festival, 1966, with the support of the Transvaal Provincial Administration.
National Tree list for South Africa - Prepared under the direction of Dr. B. de Winter by the Botanical Research Institute in collaboration with the Department of Forestry.
Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition. The DJ has some limited signs of edge wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far except that the first page has been neatly removed. The book is protected with a Cellophane cover.
Beautiful white boards under DJ wit black image of tree and black lettering on bottom of Face boards and spine-Beautifully preserved.
Though the title of this book mentions “Transvaal trees” you will notice from the text that it might as well have been called “South African” or even “Southern African trees”. Many of these so-called “Transvaal” species will flourish elsewhere in the Republic if the planting is done with the necessary care. It might be worth our while to try.
Every book has a history. This one too. The National Parks Board some years ago began to number 50 species of trees in the Kruger Park, issuing to tourists a number-name-list. From that fine beginning sprang the idea of doing something similar for the whole of the Province: to number attractive speci-mens at picnic spots along the highways, in parks, on school grounds, along the streets and to publish a list of names that correspond with the numbers. That was about a year ago. The scheme then was a suggestion only. All the authorities concerned with the preservation of nature have since considered the idea and taken a decision: that a numerical list of all the species of trees in the whole of the country should be compiled. Work on it was started at once, and during the last few months such a list has been compiled by the Botanical Research Institute in collaboration with the Department of Forestry and other experts. I am gratified that at the time of writing, a bare six months after the decision was taken, the list is ready for publication. At the back of this book you will find the complete national list. (No doubt you will be as surprised as I was to find that no less than 738 separate species are listed!) If therefore you should run across a tree bearing the number 617 growing on the slopes of Table Moun-tain, you would know from the list that it is the same Wild Olive (Olienhout) that you spotted in the Game Reserve or in Natal under the same number, or in northern South West Africa or in the Orange Free State or wherever it might have been.
Numbers by themselves are not enough, of course. That is why the numerical list of the Game Reserve has grown into this volume. In it you will find the name (and other interesting facts) that belongs to the number you have seen, in the case of 66 of our most attractive or most important trees. I say “interesting” because this book contains a great deal of information that has not been published before.
