This book is a comprehensive review of the genera of Meliaceae, a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs, found in tropical East Africa. It presents information on their character, occurrence, habitat, phenotypic variations and distribution of each of the species under these genera.

A listing of almost 9000 kinds of plants known to be cultivated in Southern Africa, or to have been tried here. The information is derived from a database containing details mainly of specimens archived in the National Herbarium, Pretoria.

The book contemplates different ways of approaching the study of vegetation as well as the type of indices to be used. However, all the works pursue the same objective: to know and interpret nature from different points of view, either through knowledge of nature in situ or the use of technology and mapping using satellite images. Chapters analyze the ecological parameters that affect vegetation, the species that make up plant communities, and the influence of humans on vegetation.