Vegetation of woodland clearings in the Chirundu/Chiawa area of the Zambezi Valley, Zambia

A Vegetation survey was carried out within a 300 km area around Gwabi on the Zambian side of the middle Zambezi Valley with emphasis on regenerating fields abandoned after clearing. Information was collected on the previous and present status of such fields. The Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method was used for describing the vegetation and other parameters of the study plots. Data was processed using computer routines for manipulating phytosociological tables and also multivariate analysis.The floristic data is presented as an association table with communities arranged along a gradient from masic to xeric moisture conditions.A provisional alliance, the combretion eleagnoidis was proposed to cover the woodland and thicket communities of the drier ground in the valley. Four associations were named: the mopane woodland and scrub were diagnosed as: Fockeo-colophospermetum mopanis. A community occuring in the thickets with pterocarpo antunessii-combretetum eleagnoidis. In the more moist conditions a community of acacia robusta ssp clavigera was named as the third association Acacietum(Robustae) clavigerae and the fourth occuring on the flood plain was named as the Abutilo angulati-Acacietum tortilis.