Afrika südlich der Sahara
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Flora et Vegetatio Sudano-Sambesica (formerly "Etudes sur la flore et la végétation du Burkina Faso et des pays avoisinantes") is a refereed, international journal aimed at presenting high quality papers dealing with all fields of geobotany and ethnobotany of the Sudano-Sambesian zone and adjacent regions. The journal welcomes fundamental and applied research articles as well as review papers and short communications. English is the preferred language but papers written in French will also be accepted. The papers should be written in a style that is understandable for specialists of other disciplines as well as interested politicians and higher level practitioners. Acceptance for publication is subject to a referee-process. In contrast to its predecessor (the "Etudes …") that was a series occurring occasionally, Flora et Vegetatio Sudano-Sambesica is a journal, being published regularly with one volume per year. Edited by Rüdiger Wittig (Frankfurt), Sita Guinko (Ouagadougou), Brice Sinsin (Cotonou), Adjima Thiombiano (Ouagadougou).
In spite of enormous climatic differences between Burkina Faso and Germany, 20 species belong to the spontaneous flora of both countries, i.e. 1% of the flora of Burkina Faso and 0.15 % of the German flora. All of them are either ruderal and segetal species (16) or water and reed plants (4). All of the 16 ruderals/segetals are therophytes. From a recent point of view, most of the 20 species can be classified as cosmopolitan, because they cover three and more floristic zones, and/or at least three climatic zones, and/or are represented in at least three continents. Although Burkina Faso has a semi-arid climate, none of the species can be called a sclero- or xerophyte. Therefore, in Burkina Faso, all are more or less bound to habitats at least temporarily flooded or to humid soils. In Germany, however, the concerned ruderals, with one exception, are indicators of medium dry or dry habitats.
Wild plant species are important nutritious supplements to otherwise nutrient poor diets of rural populations in West Africa. Consequently, a decline of wild food species has a direct negative impact on the nutritional status of local households. In this study, we firstly investigated the preferred wild food species in south-east Burkina Faso, their perceived change in abundance as well as their contribution to wild food income. Secondly, we studied how these species might be substituted in times of species shortfall. Thirdly, we investigated the impact of socio-economic variables on the substitution choice. We conducted 155 household interviews in two villages and found 21 wild food species. With a contribution of almost 70% to wild food income, Vitellaria paradoxa and Parkia biglobosa were economically most important. All species were considered declining to some degree. The wide range of cited substitutes for the ten most important wild food species indicates a great knowledge on alternative plant species in the area. For the majority, the substitution choice did not depend on socio-economic characteristics. Cited as surrogate for several important wild food species, the native tree Balanites aegyptiaca was the most important substitute species. Many valued wild food species were substituted with other highly valued wild food species and therefore the decline of one species can lead to a shortfall of another substitute. Thus, even though our results suggest that people are able to counteract the decrease or absence of wild food species, growing decline of one species would concurrently increase the pressure on other native food species.