Guide to the Succulent Plants of South-West Madagascar / Guide des Plantes Succulentes du Sud-Ouest de Madagascar

About this book

Language: Bilingual in English and French

The South-West region of Madagascar is home to many hundreds of species of succulent plants, though such great diversity cannot be covered in a small guide. Instead, the authors have selected the most frequently encountered and easily identifiable species, as well as some of the rarest and most threatened native succulents.

This publication aspires to raise awareness of those species at risk of extinction and so to contribute to their protection. This guide is neither a distribution atlas nor a scientific work, but a simple and attractive handbook for ecologists, botanists and amateurs. The first chapter presents a short introduction to the characteristics of the vegetation occurring in South-West Madagascar, with some remarks on geology and climate. In the following section, the authors present 91 species of succulent plant, distributed in 14 families, richly illustrated with more than 270 colour photos. The descriptions are organised by family, genus and species, and are arranged alphabetically with scientific names presented before vernacular names. The short descriptions and associated images aim to give sufficient information to enable identification of plants in the field, and are supported by comments on their habitat, flowering times, as well as uses and medicinal properties. A Glossary of botanical terms is presented following the plant descriptions. The Index at the back of the book is arranged with plant scientific names and vernacular names in alphabetical order.

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