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5 plants worth knowing

Malawi

Malawi stretches along the Great Rift Valley and the vast Lake Malawi, which covers about a fifth of the country. The uplands are clothed in miombo woodland and fields of maize and tobacco, the Nyika and Mulanje mountains harbour montane grasslands rich in orchids and remnants of cedar forest, while the hot Shire valley and the lakeshore belong to baobabs, mopane and acacias.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. Mulanje cedar 1

    tree · National tree of Malawi

    Mulanje cedar

    Widdringtonia whytei

    Malawi’s national tree grows wild on just one mountain – the Mulanje massif – and is now critically endangered.
  2. Tea plant 2

    crop

    Tea plant

    Camellia sinensis

    The emerald terraces of tea estates at the foot of Mulanje and in Thyolo are Malawi’s most picturesque farming landscape.
  3. Tobacco 3

    crop

    Tobacco

    Nicotiana tabacum

    Tobacco is Malawi’s “green gold” – for decades it brought in most of this farming nation’s export earnings.
  4. African baobab 4

    tree

    African baobab

    Adansonia digitata

    Baobabs line the shores of Lake Malawi and the banks of the Shire River, and their tangy pulp goes into local juices and ice creams.
  5. Apple-ring acacia 5

    tree

    Apple-ring acacia

    Faidherbia albida

    A “back-to-front” tree – it drops its leaves in the rainy season, so maize grows beneath it in full sun and on enriched soil.