MALAWI 60s

Malawi has a very rich biota that includes 5,053 native or naturalised species of plants. About half of the land area is classified as forest or woodland, but some of this includes grassland, thicket, and scrub. There are indigenous softwoods in the better-watered areas, with bamboo and cedars on Mt. Sapitwa; evergreen conifers also grow in the highlands. Mopane, baobab, acacia, and mahogany trees are among those found at lower elevations. There are over 400 orchid species occurring in the country.

Malawi has a number of mountains that have very specific flora and fauna inhabiting them. Reptiles found only in Malawi include the Mount Mulanje Chameleon, Chapman's Pygmy Chameleon, the Mount Mulanje Pygmy Chameleon, Mitchell's Flat Lizard, the King Dwarf Gecko Lygodactylus rex, Bons' Dwarf Gecko, the Nyika Girdled Lizard, the Mulanje Skink, and the Nyika Serpentiform Skink. A skink Proscelotes mlanjensis is also sometimes considered distinct from Proscolotes arnoldi (which occurs in Zimbabwe).

Endemic amphibians include the Mulanje River Frog Amietia johnstoni (EDGE) (iNaturalist), Broadley's Ridged Frog Ptychadena broadleyi (IUCN) (Google Books), and Friedemann's Long Reed Frog Hyperolius friedemanni (GBIF). The distribution of the Mulanje Mongrel Frog Nothophryne broadleyi has recently been restricted to Malawi.

Butterflies restricted to Malawi include Cooksonia aliciae (Namizimu), Charaxes martini, Charaxes dowsetti, Euphaedra murphyi, Euphaedra ceramica, Cymothoe zombana, and Mimacraea costleyi and Alaena lamborni. Other endemic insects include the Mulanje Damselfly Oreocnemis phoenix, the Mulanje Tiger Moth Callioratis grandis , a tortricid moth Prophaecasia malawiana (GBIF), a cicada Murphyalna mughessensis, a leafhopper Xerophytavorus furcillatus, a thorny lacewing Rhachiella malawica, an ant Camponotus lamborni, a stalk-eyed fly Diopsis malawiensis, a vivid metallic ground beetle Chlaenius ruthmuellerae, a caterpillar hunter Calosoma nyassicum, the dung beetles Tomogonus chauvetorum and Epidrepanus nyika, several caddisflies of the genus Chimarra, a mantis Galepsus dudleyi, a cricket Pseudolebinthus lunipterus, and four katydids: Enyaliopsis ilala, Enyaliopsis mulanje, Eulioptera bilobata, and Dioncomena bulla.

The Mulanje Massif, also known as Mount Mulanje, is a large inselberg in southern Malawi only 65 km east of Blantyre, rising sharply from the surrounding plains of Phalombe, and the tea-growing Mulanje district. Much of the Massif consists of rolling grassland at elevations of 1800–2200 m, intersected by deep forested ravines. It has many individual peaks reaching heights of over 2500 m, including Chambe Peak, the West Face of which is the longest rock climb in Africa.

The mountain itself is part of the protected Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve. Mount Mulanje is especially rich in endemic plants including the Mulanje Cedar Widdringtonia whytei, Impatiens shirensis, Kniphofia mulanjeana (iNaturalist), Alloeochaete oreogena, Cleome densifolia, Gladiolus bellus, Geranium mlanjense, Helichrysum whyteanum, Streptocarpus milanjianus, and Streptocarpus nimbicola. The Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei) was proclaimed the National Tree of Malawi in 1984 by the late president Hastings Banda. This tall tree, W. whytei, was named after one Alexander Whyte, a colonial government botanist in Nyasaland. Plants unique to the Nyika Plateau include Brachythrix pawekiae, Cyphia nyikensis, Osteospermum nyikensis, Phyllanthus nyikae, and Vernonia kawoziensis. Aloe canis , Brachystelma malawiensis, and Plectranthus elegans are also endemic to Malawi.