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Guide to Grasses of Southern Africa
Fritz van Oudtshoorn
(Briza, R275)
Most people will not know how important grasses are to our existence. If it wasn’t for grasses, most of us would not be around at all, as world animal and human populations would be far smaller. When dinosaurs walked the Earth, grasses did not even exist yet. We have used and cultivated grasses for only about 10 000 years.
You may wonder what grasses humans eat. The most common are wheat, rice and maize, which we consume every day. There are about 9 700 species world-wide and we have 967 species in southern Africa. Most of our farming stock bred for human consumption relies on grasses for survival.
Our very existence depends on our management of farmland and grasslands. Erosion because of overgrazing and bad land management result in loss of top soil and irreversible damage to our country. Loss of top soil is a major problem in Africa and everyone knows what a “donga” is and what happens to ground that has been cleared by machines or overgrazed.
For the city slicker, these issues seem far removed from reality, but Van Oudtshoorn’s book is essential for farmers and nature conservation students throughout Africa.
To understand fundamentals of grass progression is vital to agricultural practitioners and should be understood by other industries which are likely to disturb the ground by road construction, building or mining.
The book is an excellent tool to identify and learn more about our grasses. It is comprehensive and as a reprint of his previous book of the same name, contains updated information as well as common Afrikaans names of grasses used by farmers handy for easy identification.
Every farmer and nature student needs this book and I would recommend it to the civil engineering sector and mining engineers also. – Ed Lemke
