Environment
Response of selected tree species to experimental bark harvesting
Forestry experiments in Malawi
Authors:
G. Meke; W. Sagona
Publisher:
Forestry Research Institute of Malawi, 2007
In Malawi over 90 percent of the population use only traditional medicine or use it in combination with western medicine for the treatment of various ailments. Over 60 percent of traditional medicines are comprised of plant materials.
Recent high rates of deforestation and unsustainable harvesting methods employed by traditional healers have resulted in the disappearance of most of the traditional medicine plant species. In light of this, a series of bark harvesting experiments were conducted of montane and seven miombo woodland tree species. This paper presents the results of these experiments. The response to bark wounding will form the basis for development of harvesting plans for species whose bark is used in traditional medicine.
For trees that have good recovery, rotational bark harvesting would be recommended. However, where the woods affect other tree products like timber quality, alternative parts of the plants should be considered for use as traditional medicine.
The experiment shows that:
- all the species used in the experiment do recover from bark wounding, however the rate at which the wound closes vary among species
- pnly P. africana and P. angolensis recover fast enough to be considered for rotational bark harvesting
- for the rest of the species, the best bark harvesting option would be to cut the selected tree and harvest all the bark or harvest other parts that would heal easily or drastically affect the health of the trees
- for large scale harvesting of species like P. africana, there is a need to do enrichment planting or to establish herbal orchards as current populations are too low.
