“ SUDD "-FORMATION OF THE UPPER NILE. 53 
surface and by means of its shoots binds together those given 
out by the rhizomes of other plants. Among the Cucurbitacez, 
Luffa egyptiaca, Mill., and Adenopus breviflorus, Benth., are also 
common. 
Amidst the tangle of rhizomes of the Papyrus other plants 
also spring up, and their roots and the soil which they gather 
fill up the interstices of the mass. The most showy of these are 
Hibiscus diversifolius, Jacq., and Melanthera Brownei, Rohr. 
The little bays and inlets and placid pools are covered with Pistia, 
Azolla, Trapa bispinosa, Roxb., Hydrocotyle natans, Cyr., Utricu- 
laria Oliveri, Kam., Jussiea diffusa, Forsk., J. pilosa, H. B. & K., 
Ceratophyllum sp., Nymphea Lotus, Linn., sedges, and others 
enumerated in the list at the end of these notes. 
Towards Hillet en Nuer the banks of the channel are often 
better defined, and Papyrus is frequently replaced by the tall reed 
Phragmites communis, Trin., while Panicum pyramidale, Lam. 
(called “ Om-Suf,” or “ Mother-of-wool,” by the Arabs on account 
of the irritant hairs at the base of the leaves), which has the 
faculty of growing both in shallower and in deeper water than 
Papyrus, not only occupies the land which is uncovered or 
nearly so at low Nile, but forms a fringe in front of the Papyrus 
in the bed of the channel. South of Hillet en Nuer Phragmites 
is still more common, and is festooned by the same twiners 
mentioned above, the most abundant being Ipomea palmata. 
The islands and spits of land, which are only covered at high 
Nile, are usually grown over with thick grass and sometimes 
with open woods of small Acacia Suma, Kurz, or with scattered 
trees, frequently growing on the top of termite-hills, chiefly 
Cratæva religiosa, Forst., with some Borassus Jlabellifer, Linn., 
Hyphæne thebaica, Mart., Euphorbia Candelabrum, Trém., and 
occasional Kigelia æthiopica, Decne., and Trichilia emetica, Vahl. 
On the somewhat higher ground afforded by the termite-mounds 
are also found a pretty white-flowered shrub, Clerodendron near 
neriifolium, Vahl, also Capparis tomentosa, Lam., Sanseviera 
guineensis, Willd., Withania somnifera, Dun., and bulbs of the 
showy Hemanthus multiflorus, Martyn. 
The Ambatch is much more abundant in the southern portion 
of the Sudd, and forms woods of some extent, usually lining 
channels of lakes. 
Above Shamba the course of the river is, for some distance, 
even more tortuous. At first the bends keep nearer to the left 
F2 
