Mlawula Nature Reserve's Flora
The flora of the reserve comprises about 1035 plant species including 55 alien species.
For a detailed listing of species, see Mlawula Flora Checklist
Information on vegetation types
Species of Conservation Significance
Due to the current poor level of knowledge of the status and distribution of plant species in Swaziland, it is difficult to determine which species should be given priority for conservation. However, a provisional list of twenty one species has been drawn up based on available regional and international status information, local rarity and regional distribution:
| Conservation status | |||||
| Species | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Encephalartos
lebomboensis
Encephalartos umbeluziensis Aloe cooperi subsp. cooperi Aloe dewetii Aloe dyeri Aloe keithii Aloe rupestris Haworthia limifolia var. ubomboensis Gladiolus brachyphyllus Gladiolus hollandii Gladiolus varius var. varius Xylopia parviflora Cordyla africana Tephrosia gobensis Euphorbia keithii Hippocratea longipetiolata Vitellariopsis dispar Pachypodium saundersii Cynanchum gerrardii Pachycymbium ubomboense Metarungia longistrobis Pavetta barbertonensis |
B4
B2 B4 B3 B2 A? B3 A B2/C B2/C B2 B2?/C C A/B2? A B2 B2 B5 A?/C A? B2/C B3 |
R
LF VR LF O LF VR R R |
R
U U R R R R R U R I R U R |
R
R R R R R R R R R nt nt U R I R R R |
m
m m m m m m m? m? m? m m m m m |
Key to conservation status codes:
| 1
A B(2 10) C D 2 VR R O LF F LA A VA 3 R I U nt 4 R I U nt 5 m |
Regional
distribution
Swaziland endemic Southern African endemic (number of countries/provinces) African endemic not endemic Distribution within reserve very rare rare occasional locally frequent frequent locally abundant abundant very abundant Status within region rare indeterminate uncertain whether safe or not neither rare nor threatened World status rare indeterminate uncertain whether safe or not neither rare nor threatened Possible medicinal usage |
Alien plants
Fifty five alien plant species of mainly South American origin occur in the reserve. Many alien plants are carried into the reserve by the Mbuluzi and Mlawula rivers. The most problematic aliens are Chromolaena odorata, Lantana camara and Melia azederach. The savanna areas have been colonised by a number of alien herbaceous species, especially Parthenium hysterophorus, as a consequence of overstocking.