LEAF ATTRIBUTES OF SOUTH-AFRICAN FOREST SPECIES

Data on specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area, leaf nitrogen concentrati on and whether leaves are entire or simple are presented for over 100 species covering a range of forest types in South Africa. Variation in mean values of forests of tree morphological characters did not follo w a simple environmental gradient of rainfall. In contrast SLA and lea f N were (inversely) related to rainfall. Variation in mean leaf size was small, despite a fairly large rainfall gradient. Members of the Po docarpaceae tend to have lowest SLA and members of Fabaceae the highes t values. At the scale of whole forests, there appears to be two main groups; coastal forests on sands with relatively high SLA and southern or montane forests with low SLA, This is matched by similar values in dominant understorey species in these forests. These data provide a f ramework for hypotheses for the life histories of various species.