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The information for a particular species consists of the following. At this stage, some items are missing or incomplete.
The authority is abbreviated in accordance with the standard published in Brummitt & Powell (1992).
Included under this term are not only true synonyms but misapplied names and spelling variants.
We have followed a general pattern of capitalising the first word but not the second, e.g. Velvet bushwillow. In a few, rare, cases, we have done something different if the result so produced is ridiculous for some reason.
Vernacular names are shown for the following languages: English and Setswana.
A subjective impression, using the following simple scale: common, frequent, occasional, local, rare.
Native or Introduced (a simple classification)
In drawing up the descriptions of families and genera, these have often been widened to take account of species outside the flora area. However, where all the species in the flora area have a specific character, this has often been noted in the descriptions by the phrase "(in our species)" or simply "(in ours)", thus reducing the space taken up by irrelevant information.
In the descriptions, reference to an unqualified measurement is to the length of an object. A reference to (for example) 4-5 × 1-2 cm, means the length is 4-5 cm and the width is 1-2 cm. Measurements enclosed in brackets (for example: leaves 7-10(-15) cm) are exceptional cases outside the normal range; however, even these measurements may not be the absolute extremes.
The length of the species descriptions is variable and is generally longer in the larger families and genera. The species descriptions usually exclude characters already mentioned under the genus; both must be read. Important features have been placed in italics for emphasis.
This is a slot for miscellaneous information about the species which is not dealt with elsewhere.
An explanation, where known, of the scientific species name is given.
This is given as a range in metres. Note that at present, many of the altitude ranges are incomplete or provisional and further information may well extend these considerably.
For each family, genus and species, the total worldwide number of genera and/or species is given, together with a brief summary of the worldwide distribution. This information has been extracted from various sources, often either from FZ or from Mabberley (1997).
In Flora Zambesiaca, Botwana was divided into 3 divisions. These are as follows:
Information as to which division each species is to be found has been extracted from Flora Zambesiaca, published checklists and from the Zimbabwe National Herbarium (SRGH).
| Growth form | Spot id and link to page |
| Annual | 16 |
| Aquatic | 6 |
| Biennial | 17 |
| Climber | 1 |
| Epiphyte | 13 |
| Liane | 18 |
| Lithophyte | 14 |
| Perennial | 19 |
| Shrub over 2 m | 20 |
| Shrub under 2 m | 21 |
| Tree | 2 |
| Terrestrial (used in Orchidaceae and ferns only) | 22 |
Information about species of insects which are associated with particular plant species was sometimes available and we have created pages giving basic information, with images, about each insect species, with links to and from the species of plant.