list of figures - Terry Sunderland

(generic term for L. robustum and L. secundiflorum; large diameter canes and widely
utilised species). Similarly, the same species, L. opacum, is also categorised at the
specific level by the Mokpwe around Mount Cameroon as liko ko’ko, or “close to
cane”.
The application of the language of descent is commonly encountered within taxa that
have manifestly different morphological characteristics in the juvenile and adult
phases, particularly reflected in the leaf shape; flabellate when juvenile and pinnate
when adult. Interestingly, these juvenile stages can be so morphologically distinct,
they have sometimes been described by Western botanists as “new” species (Drude,
1895). A number of these species are widely utilised in the juvenile stages, but are too
inflexible for use when mature; for example Eremospatha macrocarpa and E.
haullevilleana. The recognition within some folk taxonomies of this within-species
morphological variation and distinct utilisation is effected by using what are different
specific level terms for the juvenile and adult growth phases. All of the prefixes listed
in Table 4 are glossed as “child of”.
Table 21. Folk specific taxa based on morphological and utilisation characteristics.
Species Species name Species name (adult Language (country)
(juvenile phase) phase)
Eremospatha
koto-mbalu mbalu Mende (Sierra Leone)
macrocarpa
asa-nlong nlong (semi adult);
adult = ongam
Bulu (Cameroon)
bana-ndongo ndongo Balundu-Bima
(Cameroon)
6.6.5 Varietal categories
Although varietal categories are well recorded for a few African palms, particularly
the oil palm reflecting its long history of farmer-led selection and breeding (see
Burkill, 1997), varietal categories for rattan have not been encountered.
Table 22, below, presents a summary of rattan classification in Africa with reference
to Berlin’s conceptual model. The theoretical structure of vernacular names is
presented in Box 2, below.
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