The Forests and Forest Flora of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope
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.
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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
- XIII Artificial Key to the Genera
- XIV Systematic Descriptions
- Plates 1-160