To encourage the start of an African Ethnobotany Network and to create some fundament for reference, a questionnaire was sent to the members of AETFAT (Association for the Taxonomic Study of the Flora of Tropical Africa) and to the African ethnobotanists in contact with the People and Plants Initiative of WWF, UNESCO and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. By 1 September 1997, about 300 recipients had responded with the large majority wishing to participate in the African Ethnobotany Network. Additional replies have arrived after this date. The current Network membership list is included at the end of this Bulletin.