The Eswatini Flora Checklist was revised and published by SABONET in April 2004. Download (pdf, 1.13 MB)

The checklist has been updated and revised as part of the SNPAS biodiversity baseline data project, with the nomenclature being in line with SANBI usage as at 2016.

Further updates have been carried out in the last few years, bringing the taxonomy in line with Kew for most taxa.

View list of species by Family

View Eswatini's Plants Database

(Information extracted from the introduction to the Swaziland Flora Checklist, 2004.)

The checklist includes 3678 taxa in 3441 species, 1124 genera and 244 families. Of these taxa, 200 are exotic. The total number of taxa is only a rough approximation, due to the need for further examination of a number of specimens to confirm identifications and to clarify disparities between identifications in PRE and SDNH for matching specimen numbers. In addition, there are plant taxa yet to be collected which have been observed as present in Eswatini. Notably, there are a number of exotic species which have been observed in Eswatini but for which there are currently no herbarium specimens.

The main checklist includes only those taxa where a specimen was found. In order to facilitate future updates of the checklist, a number of taxa and/or specimens which have been excluded from the main checklist are listed in the appendices. Appendix 1 lists taxa which have previously been quoted in Eswatini flora publications but are no longer believed to occur in Eswatini. A number of taxa which require confirmation are included in Appendix 2. These include specimens where there is a query with regard to the identification, as well as taxa which have been observed in Eswatini, but no specimen was found. The PRECIS database lists a number of taxa as being present in Eswatini, but without a corresponding specimen, and these are listed in Appendix 3. Some of these records might be due to a specimen being reidentified, but without the presence in Eswatini being corrected in the database for the previous name. Specimens where the current identification is only to genus level can be found in Appendix 4.

Checklist Compilation Process

Work on compiling this checklist was commenced in June 2001, with the preparation of a customised database specifically for this checklist. Data was then obtained from various sources and converted into an appropriate format to import into the database. The database was used for cross-checking information, and wherever possible, eliminating errors.

Data Sources:

Herbarium Databases:
PRECIS - NBI Pretoria Herbarium, South Africa
SDNH - Eswatini National Herbarium, Malkerns, Eswatini
Previous Publications:
Compton, R.H. (1966). An Annotated Check-List of the Flora of Eswatini. J. S. Afr. Bot. Supplementary Vol. No. 6.
Compton, R.H. (1976). The Flora of Eswatini. J. S. Afr. Bot. Supplementary Vol. No. 11.
Kemp, Ellen (1981). Additions and Name Changes to the Flora of Eswatini. Eswatini National Trust Commission Occasional Publication No. 1.
Kemp, Ellen (1983). A Flora Checklist for Eswatini. Eswatini National Trust Commission Occasional Publication No. 2.
Other:
Provisional Eswatini Flora Checklist (1993) - K P Braun.
Information from plant collectors who have carried out collection activities in Eswatini over the last thirty years.

Data Quality:

PRECIS:
The quality of data obtained from the PRECIS database is dependant on how it was originally entered into the database. As a result of this, there are occasional errors due to mis-spellings of collector names or numbers. There are also a number of duplicate specimen numbers, sometimes listed as completely different taxa, sometimes as closely related taxa. Where possible, these have been resolved.
SDNH:
There are a number of specimens where duplicate material is held in PRE, but the identifications differ. These are quoted in the checklist under the taxon assigned by PRE, with the SDNH identification indicated next to the relevant collector number.

The contents of the herbarium have now been computerised, but there are still a number of specimens which have not yet been processed into the herbarium, so these do not appear on the checklist.

New records for Eswatini:

In addition to material in the Pretoria and Eswatini herbaria, information has been received from Kew Herbarium, Graham Deall, Linda Dobson-Loffler and Peter Goldblatt, as well as the list of Pteridophyta collected by Dr J.P. Roux in May 2002.

Number of specimens quoted:

This checklist has been compiled from a total of approximately 23 500 specimens collected in Eswatini. Of these, 8593 specimens have been quoted, a maximum of three specimens being listed per taxon.