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MOUNT CAMEROON
| Mount Cameroon is
the tallest mountain (4095 m) and
only active volcano in continental
tropical Africa west of the
Albertine Rift (Uganda). It is one
of the few places where natural
vegetation exists from the coast to
subalpine elevations and includes
one of only three locations (Cape
Debundscha) where annual rainfall
exceeds 10 m per annum.
Kew projects
Kew’s link with
Mount Cameroon began in 1861 when
then director William Hooker
recommended the Kew Gardener, Gustav
Mann, for an appointment as
botanical collector in West Africa.
Based on Bioco (then Fernando Po,
later Macias Nguema), Mann collected
many hundreds of high-quality plant
specimens at several locations in
the Gulf of Guinea over a two-year
stay which included three visits to
Mount Cameroon. One journey to the
upper altitudes of the mountain was
made in the company of Alfred Saker
(founder of the town of Victoria,
now Limbe) and Richard Burton (the
famous traveller and writer). Many
new species were discovered and
published based on these collections
(often with the epithet "manniii")
principally by Joseph Hooker.A botanic garden
was founded in Victoria after
Cameroon became a German colony (as
"Kamerun") in 1884.
After
the Great War of 1914-1919,
westernmost Cameroon came under
British control and RBG, Kew was
asked to give advice on the future
of the Botanic Garden at Victoria.
This link between Kew and Victoria
(now Limbe) has continued ever
since.
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Mangrove
at Mt Cameroon, continental
West Central Africa’s
highest mountain and only
active volcano. Dr Zapfack,
orchid specialist from the
University of Yaoundé I, is
shown collecting specimens.
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In
1986 Kew's Nigel Hepper led a
team that visited Mount
Cameroon and recommended to
the British Governmentthat the
Botanic Garden at Limbe be
renovated and used as a centre
to co-ordinate conservation
and education concerning two
natural areas on (Etinde) and
near (Mabeta-Moliwe) the
mountain. What was to become
the "Mount Cameroon
Project (Limbe)" began
with DFID funding in 1988. Kew
personnel were heavily
involved in advising on the
rehabilitation of the botanic
garden and herbarium and later
on the conducting of botanical
inventories and the
identification of the relevant
specimens. The botanical
inventory work culminated in a
specimen-based
"conservation
checklist" of the plants
of Mount Cameroon (Cable &
Cheek 1998) which built on the
earlier "Botanical
Inventory of the Mabeta-Moliwe
Forest" (Cheek 1992b).
Dr
Nouhou Ndam, conservator of
the Limbe Botanic Garden, is
shown in the herbarium,
Cameroon’s second largest.
Mr Mezili of the National
Herbarium, Yaoundé is in the
foreground. |
New discoveries
The checklist
gives authoritative scientific names, synonymy, geographic ranges
and conservation status for the 2438
vascular plant species of Mount
Cameroon, defined as an area of
about 2700 square kilometres, including the South
Bakundu forest and the foothills to
the NW and SE of the main massif.
Forty-nine of the species are
considered strictly endemic, most of
which are included in the 116
newly-proposed Red Data species in
the book. The last are accepted by IUCN.
For each Red Data species about half
a page of detailed information is
given, including distribution,
threats and description.
Pararistolochia
goldieana (Aristolochiaceae)
with fly-pollinated flowers
the size of a cardboard box,
this liana is Africa’s
equivalent of Rafflesia.
Photographed inside the Limbe
Botanic Garden, it is
widespread, though rare, in
the forests of Lower Guinea.
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Future work at
RBG, Kew includes continued
elucidation of the potential new
species revealed during previous
botanical inventory work and the
production of conservation posters
for individual threatened species.
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References
Cable, S. &
Cheek, M. (1998). The plants of
Mount Cameroon, A Conservation
Checklist. 279 pp. Kew:
Royal Botanic Gardens.
Cheek, M.
(1992b). A Botanical Inventory
of the Mabeta-Moliwe Forest.
Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Report
to Govt. Cameroon from ODA. 22
pp, provisional check-list (compiled
by Cheek, Sidwell, Sunderland &
Faruk) 112 pp.
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