Changes

In ‘Timbers 1’ all primary-use timber species of 25 important timber-containing families are treated. ‘Timbers 2’ will comprise the timber species of the remaining families. Comprehensive descriptions are given of 113 important timber species. These major timbers comprise mostly wild species, but also several cultivated or partly domesticated species. The accounts are presented in a detailed format and illustrated with a line drawing and a distribution map. In addition, accounts of 167 timbers of minor importance are given. Because information on these species is often scanty, these accounts are in a simplified format and usually do not include a drawing or map. For another 231 species the information was too scarce to justify an individual treatment and they have only been mentioned in the accounts of related species.

PROTA 7(2): ‘Timbers 2’ is the second of 2 volumes describing the wild and cultivated plant species of tropical Africa used in the first place for their timber. Some of these are traded on the international timber market, but many are only used locally, for construction purposes or the production of furniture, implements and utensils. Bamboos of which the stems are used for construction are also included in this commodity group (see PROTA 7(1)). Most species have several other, secondary, uses. PROTA assigns one primary use and, if relevant, one or more secondary uses to all plant species used in Africa. For instance, the primary use of ''Terminalia ivorensis'' A. Chev. is as a timber tree, and thus it is treated in PROTA 7, but it has several secondary uses, e.g. it is used as a shade tree for crops and as a roadside tree, whereas the bark and leaves are used in traditional medicine. The timber of ''Terminalia catappa'' L. is also commonly used, but the primary use of this species is as an ornamental tree, and consequently it is described in PROTA 4: ‘Ornamentals’.