Miombo

Miombo is the Swahili word for Brachystegia, a genus of tree comprising a large number of species. Miombo woodland is classified in the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wildlife Fund scheme). The biome includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized by the predominant presence of Miombo species, with a range of climates from humid to semi-arid, and tropical to subtropical or even temperate.

Characteristically the trees shed their leaves for a short period in the dry season to reduce water loss, and produce a flush of new leaves just before the onset of the rainy season with rich gold and red colours masking the underlying chlorophyll, reminiscent of temperate autumn colours.

The name miombo is used in a number of Bantu languages in the region such as Shona and Bemba. In Bemba, the word "miombo" is the plural of the word "muombo", which is the specific name for the species Brachystegia longifolia.