BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA SHEET

South Africa: General
If there is a sweep of grandeur to the countries of South Africa, there is
nevertheless a pervasive political pall that clouds all issues of contemporary
life throughout the region, whether they be cultural, health, or medical. May
and McLellan (1971) demonstrate that the primary nutritional problems of South
Africa are caloric, not protein, and the ecology of malnutrition is directly
associated with the interrelationships between cultivation of domesticated crops
and dietary use of available wild plants.
South Africa: Botanical/Dietary Data by State
Swaziland-Lesotho-Malawi-Mozambique
Two important works on Swazi nutrition have appeared during the past
fifty years. Beemer (1939) presented basic information on the composition and
quality of Swazi diet, providing extensive identification of edible wild plants
(Table 21). Jones (1963) presents a more recent view of Swazi nutrition, identi­
fying different dietary patterns in three ecological zones of the country and
noting continued use of wild plants (berries, fruits, leaves).
Ashton (1939, p. 159), in her classic work on Sotho diet, mentions
that relatively few wild plants are used as food, but then identifies nineteen
of the most important (Table 22).
Williamson (1972) completed the most important work on ethnobotany
to emerge from Malawi (Nyasaland) and provided brief descriptions of both wild
and cultivated food plants, with more than 200 wild foods commonly utilized
(Table 23).
Santos Oliveira and Fidalgo de Carvalho (1975) published a major
account of the nutritional values of edible leaves commonly collected in
Mozambique, noting extensive use of Amaranthus caudatus, Amaranthus gracilis,
51.