Page 20 - Silver Lakes September 2021

BOOK REVIEW

KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUIT:

A GUIDE TO IDENTIFYING

SOUTH AFRICAN TREES

To commemorate Arbour Week, we recommend
this latest release from Jacana Media.

his is a unique, first-of-its-kind tree relations officer for the Department of During collecting trips as a pupil forester,
book with beautiful illustrations Nature and Environmental Conservation he realised the fruits and pods were often
Tof the fruiting twigs of 381 South in the Southern Cape Regional Office an easy way of identifying the trees. It
African trees. The reason behind in George. He later became involved was then that the idea was conceived to
illustrating tree fruits is that, like so many as an environmental educator for the produce a field guide concentrating on
tree-lovers, the author, Trevor Ankiewicz South African Forestry Company Limited these diagnostic features to supplement
found it difficult to identify many tree (SAFCOL) with regards to the accreditation the many excellent publications already
species from their leaves as they are the by the Forestry Stewardship Council available on indigenous South African
most variable of all the plant parts. Fruits, (FSC) of native forests and commercial trees.
like flowers, have much more stable shapes plantations.
and sizes and, unlike flowers, are easier to Suggested Retail Price: R350.00
identify macroscopically. Scratch around
the under-canopy of trees and you may
find the remains of fruit that can be useful
for identification. Thus, this book was born,
and it represents the culmination of some
40 years’ work by the author.
The book, published in partnership with
the Botanical Society of South Africa,
includes:
• Specially coded keys showing colour
and size for easy identification.
• The current botanical binomial, recent
old names (due to taxonomic changes)
and the ‘best’ common names.
• Notes on distribution, fruiting time and
habitats.
• 381 beautiful illustrations of the fruiting
twigs of South African trees.

Trevor Ankiewicz grew up on a Highveld
farm in the Bronkhorstspruit district.
Having completed secondary school
at Belfast High School he furthered
his studies at the Saasveld School for
Foresters on the outskirts of George. Upon
graduating in 1966, he was transferred
to the South African Forestry Research
Institute in Pretoria. There, as a research
forester, he was tasked with collecting the
fruits of ornamental trees in the streets
and cemeteries of the capital for the
central seed store.
He worked for several years in the
Department of Agricultural and Technical
Services as a horticulturalist at their
Horticultural and Botanical Research
Institute in Pretoria. He then returned to
Saasveld in 1983 and continued working
as an extension forester until completing
his career in the civil service as a public

18 INTRA MUROS SEPTEMBER 2021