BUTTERFLY BOOK WINS AWARD

Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden by Charles and Julia Botha of Durban has just been awarded the University of KwaZulu-Natal Book Prize in the General Category.

“Julia and I consider this prestigious award as a great honour,” says Charles Botha. “We would once again like to thank those who so kindly assisted us with this book and who share in this prize.

In her acceptance address Julia noted that it was a remarkable coincidence that the award was made while COP 17 is taking place in Durban, as all their books emphasize the importance of conservation. One of their other books, Bring Nature Back to your Garden, won a University of KwaZulu-Natal Book Prize for popularising science in 1999.

Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden was published by the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Branch of the Botanical Society (BotSoc) in 2006. It features descriptions of all indigenous butterfly larval food plants known at the time, which number over 500. In the words of Dr Eugene Moll, past national chairman of BotSoc, it is “an encyclopaedia of butterfly gardening”.

Proceeds from this book, including royalties, are donated to the Botanical Education Trust which promotes the conservation of indigenous South African flora.