Green Colonialism in Zimbabwe, 1890-1980 By Vimbai Kwashirai

forest cover) section has a broken overstory of Baikiaea and dense understory of little or no grass except in openings. This section is found in the Gwampa, Silobela, Nesikwe, Nkai, and Gwai forests.⁸¹ The section with miombo woodland is dominated by Brachystegia spiciformis, with open ground cover and scattered shrubs, small trees, and sparse grass, and is found in the Sikumi, Ngamo, Gwai, and Bembesi forests.⁸² The third category is closed woodland with a close understory of shrubs and moderate grass.⁸³ Calvert notes that teak vegetative cover has twenty dominant and subdominant trees and sixty species that make up the understory.⁸⁴ Chapter 3 discusses in greater detail the classification of vegetation in the colony for conservation purposes, a system which paid much attention to the Zambezi teak woodland species shown in appendix E.

Piearce records that Baikiaea plurijuga was the chief tree species of the forest that yielded one of the world's finest commercial timbers.⁸⁵ The three main indigenous species exploited commercially were teak, Guibortia coleosperma, Zimbabwe mahogany (or mchibi), and Pterocarpus angolensis (or kiaat, bloodwood, or mukwa).⁸⁶ Other commercial species included Afzelia quanzensis(or pod mahogany), Dalbergia melanoxylon (or African mahogany), Brachystegia spiciformis, Julbernardia globiflora, Pericopsis angolensis (or muwanga), and Ricinodendron rautanenii(or umgongo).⁸⁷ Lumbile states that these commercially exploitable indigenous species occurred on 885,000 hectares of forest land in northwestern Matabeleland.⁸⁸ The area was the chief source of raw material for the production of processed hardwood for both domestic use and export.

With European settlement and industrial development at the turn of the twentieth century, the value of mkusi and mchibi as railway sleepers, mining timber, and high-quality flooring wood was recognised. Commercial exploitation commenced, exposing the forest to fire hazard and deforestation.⁸⁹Baikiaea woodland supplied the most valuable timbers for railway sleepers, building construction, parquet flooring, and furniture wood. Teak forest offered great potential for industrialisation in the sawmilling industry.⁹⁰ Like other forests, these woodlands had ecological