East African Botanical Resources are you out there?

As a plant nerd- I love learning about new plants, their uses, their ecologies, their cultural link to the people that know, use or love them.  I have been looking for resources to know about more plants in Rwanda and the surrounding area and so far have come up with little.  I have been asking local people about the plants, their names, their uses and such but I have yet to find a plant nerd that I can communicate with, that is willing to share some of that knowledge.

The stems of this shrub are hollow and were traditional used for straws

Last week I went on a field trip to different nurseries with one of the staff members.  We were looking into types of trees and prices for the village.  (The village also has a nursery, but doesn't have all the species I was looking for.  If the village wanted to, I'm sure they could make quite a business by collecting seeds, planting them and propagating trees.)  

So any way, we going all around Kigali and the outskirts to look for trees  with me towing along, communicating in Frenglish....yes that elusive language I learned as a French immersion kid comes in handy.... no actually, I was communicating both in English and in French because the person I was with is somehow difficult to communicate with, although excellent with plants.  That's how the day went, lost in translation mime acts along with writing down the names and prices of trees so I can submit a budget for the environment club.

Now, here I am at my computer with a somewhat illegible notebook of names of trees and plants that are in Latin, French, English and Kinyarwanda.  Especially for the ones in Kinyarwanda I am trying to rack my memory for what my co-worker said they were- or if he did.  So to the nets... collectively there must be something to help me out there.

First I try this website http://kinyarwanda.net  This website is the best tool on the net for help with the Kinyarwanda language.  Amazing.... but no luck with Umusebeya

So I put it into google and miraculously somebody has made a one line wikipedia article in Kinyarwanda about Umusebeya.  To top that off, there are latin names in that article.  Oh yes!!  Botany Gold!!   Latin names are the special password in internet searches about plants.... if you put in a common name you are more likely to get fluff, or not very helpful articles.

So here you go- Umusebeya could be Albizia adianthifolia or Albizia gummifera.  These trees are native tree species of Africa, and Rwanda are in their range.  They have large, flat toped canopies, which are excellent for shade (which the village desperately needs).  They also have flowers that attract beneficial pollinators and are important for certain species of butterflies.  They are associated with nitrogen fixing bacteria so they grow quickly, have good timber.  These species have also traditionally been used to treat many different kinds of illnesses.

For more information on these trees:
Albizia adianthifolia
 Albizia adianthifolia
 Albizia gummifera
Albizia gummifera

Also a another resource that has been helpful courtsey of google 'owns the universe' books is A Field Guide to Common Trees and Shrubs of East Africa

 Happy Botanizing!