There are three or four books that ought to be the basis of every guest library – and, in fact, every home library – in South Africa: Roberts’ Birds, Smither’s Mammals, Smith’s Sea Fishes – and Keith Coates Palgraves’ Trees of Southern Africa.

Palgraves’ magnificent volume was first published in 1977, and, like all the others, has grown in stature, in size – and in quality – with each new edition.

I came into tourism after studying horticulture (it was an excellent training for a tour guide whose main interest was wildlife, and especially the forests and fynbos of the Southern Cape), and I remember toting Palgraves around like a bible in those early days.

But we parted – as you do – and I often wondered what had become of my old friend.

Now, a lifetime later, here’s his child, on my desk, and me ready to learn this stuff all over again.

Look, it’s true that you’ll only really get the full benefit of Palgraves if you’ve a background in botany – the plant descriptions are highly technical – but the book is also full of interesting information about things like the use of the species in traditional medicine, the kind of wood produced, propagation or germination of the seeds – and habitat, of course.

But if ever there’s a raging argument around the camp fire or at your dinner table about the difference between the Outeniqua yellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus) and the opregte geelhout (Podocarpus latifolius), you’ll be pleased you made the investment.

Buy it here