The objective of the National Botanical Institute's (NBI) vegetation mapping project was to map woody plant species to provide estimates of the fraction of individual species contributing to the peak leaf area index for designated vegetation types in southern Africa. The target was to account for 80% of the woody vegetation leaf area in terms of named species, for 80% of the surface area of Africa south of the equator.The data sources are both published and unpublished species lists for vegetation types and individual sample plots, with the species contribution estimated by local experts in terms of dominants and subdominants.