Acridocarpus excelsus
Acridocarpus excelsus is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing up to 15 metres tall.
The tree is sometimes harvested from the wild as a local source of dyestuff and medicines.
Adansonia digitata
Adansonia digitata is a succulent, deciduous tree that can grow up to around 20 meters tall, often with a very sparse crown, especially in the drier parts of its range.
The swollen, urn-shaped bole will eventually become very wide, often exceeding the diameter of the crown, and can be up to 10 meters across.
This is a true multi-purpose tree with a very wide range of uses for local people.
There is evidence that the baobab fruit was being sold in the markets of Egypt over 4,500 years ago.
It is still widely used by local peoples in the areas of the tropics where it grows wild or is naturalized, and is often left standing when land is cleared for cultivation.
Adenia gummifera
Adenia gummifera is a climbing perennial plant with somewhat woody stems that can be up to 30 metres long.
The plant attaches itself to other plants etc by means of tendrils. The base of the stems can be 10cm in diameter.
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and glue.
Adenium obesum
Desert rose is a succulent, deciduous shrub or small tree, usually growing up to 4 metres tall, occasionally to 6 metres. The stem base becomes strongly thickened with age and sometimes spreads over rocks, it can become 1 metre or more in diameter, The plant sometimes has a fleshy taproot.
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use, mainly as a medicine. A very popular ornamental plant, valued particularly for its flowers and unusual form, it is cultivated throughout the world as a pot plant and outdoors in the tropics.
Afzelia quanzensis
Pod mahogany is a medium to large, deciduous tree with a very spreading, often flat crown. It usual grows 12 - 15 metres tall but with some specimens reaching 35 metres. The bole is often quite short, but can range from 60 - 100cm in diameter, with exceptional specimens to 200cm.
The tree produces a valuable wood and has been extensively exploited for this. It also provides edible leaves, medicines and beads for local use. It is planted as an ornamental in gardens and parks, where the crown provides good shade, and is also often used in bonsai.
The species has been heavily logged for railway sleepers and is now protected in South Africa.
Aidia micrantha
Aidia micrantha is a shrub or a much-branched tree; it usually grows 1.8 - 9 metres tall, occasionally reaching 14 metres. The bole branches from low down.
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use of its wood. It is planted in villages for amenity use and bee forage.
Aloe vera
Aloe vera is a succulent, evergreen perennial herb that can be stemless or with a short stem up to 30cm long; it can produce a flowering stem up to 160cm tall.
Freely suckering, it produces dense rosettes of 16 - 20 long pointed leaves from shortly branched creeping rhizomes.
The plant is a very popular herbal medicine with a history of use dating back to at least 400 BC. It is widely cultivated in warm temperate to tropical regions as a medicinal plant and ingredient in skincare products. It is also commonly grown ornamentally and as a pot plant in cooler regions.
Alpinia purpurata
Alpinia purpurata is an evergreen, herbaceous, perennial plant producing a clump of leafy stems 3 - 4 metres tall from an underground, creeping rhizome.
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine. Widely grown as an ornamental in the tropics, the flower is often used in the cut flower industry.
Annona muricata
Annona muricata is a fast-growing, small, evergreen tree that can reach a height of about 7 metres.
The bole can be up to 15cm in diameter, generally branching from near the base.
Widely cultivated in tropical regions for its edible fruit.
One of the first fruits carried from the Americas to the Old World tropics, now widely distributed in Asia, Australia, Polynesia, and Africa.
