The Forests and Forest Flora of The Colony of the Cape of Good Hope

Updated on Dec 13, 2023

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The Forests and Forest Flora of The Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, is a botanical reference book written and illustrated by Thomas Robertson Sim, and published in 1907 by Taylor & Henderson of Aberdeen. At the time he was the Conservator of Forests of Natal, and had been the District Forest Officer in King William's Town, bringing a wealth of experience to the creation of this monumental work. Sim had previously written a great many books such as "Handbook of Kaffrarian Ferns", "The Ferns of South Africa" and "Botanical Observations on the Forests of Eastern Pondoland". He was a Fellow of both the Linnaean Society and the Royal Horticultural Society, with sterling credentials for producing this extensive flora of the Cape.

Format and Content

The book is of large quarto format (240mm x 300mm) and consists of 365 pages of text followed by 160 plates of line drawings by the author. Chapters are as follows:

I The Forests

II Area and Value of the Forests

III Economic Composition of the Forests

IV Factors Affecting Forest Growth

V Reduction of Forest Areas in the Past

VI Factors Affecting Distribution of Species

VII Economic Value of Cape Timbers

VIII The Protection and Exploitation of the Forests

IX Artificial Afforesting

X Epitome of the History of Cape Forestry

XI Species Reserved under the Forest Act

XII Synoptical Index to Indigenous Ligneous Genera