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Expedition no. 67: List of hedge plants found at Fairways Retirement Home, Harare: 7 Apr 2024
This is a list of plants found in or near a 70 m stretch of hedge at Fairways Retirement Home, Bodle Avenue, Harare. The recording was done by Mary Toet and the plants were identified by Mark Hyde.
Photo: Linda Hyde
Map showing the location of the hedge
Generate a list of species for Expedition no. 67
Description
This exercise was written up in Tree Life no. 527, July 2024, pages 5-7, online at https://treesociety.org.zw/tree-life/527/.
The hedge runs for 70 m from (17.827437, 31.065844) to (-17.8277891, 31.066293). Records came from the components of the hedge itself and open ground of half a metre between the hedge and the electric fence.
Conclusions
The thick stems at ground level suggest the hedge may have originally been planted as Privet or Toona, probably Privet as it has numerous black fruit, attractive to birds. There are only two Indigenous trees in the hedge, Searsia lancea and Thespesia garckeana (Azanza). The 44 different hedge plants collected show the influence of birds in establishing a unique Ecological System.
It is a natural habitat because no pesticides or fertilizers are used and the birds are not fed. The resident bird population comprises bulbuls, blue wax bills, red wax bills, bronze mannikins and heuglin’s robin (white-browed robin-chat!). Visiting birds include fiscal shrikes, arrow-marked babblers and fork-tailed drongos.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This provides a useful checklist of the plant species which could be found in any Harare garden.
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