251. H. rufa (Nees) Stapf Zebra Grass; Giant thatching grass. 

 Gogolo, cipeta (N), nyumhu (C), kanyumbu (Tu). 



A tufted perennial grass 6-12 ft. tall, found on good lands. 

 Used for thatching and for fodder when cut back or kept low by grazing. 

 Ref. 15; 17. 



252. Hyphaene spp. (Palm.). Doum palm. 

 Mgwalangwa (G), makoma (Tu); mkomakoma, magwebe, migwalangwa (three last 



names for fruits). 



Branched or unbranched palms depending on the species, up to 35 ft. tall with 

 fan-shaped leaves borne in a terminal crown ; flowers, small in cylindrical branched, 

 catkin-like spikes; fruit roughly oblong or pear-shaped, brown and glossy, about 

 3 ins. diameter. Found in rift valleys, mostly below 2,000 ft. and at Lake-shore. 



The fibrous cover of the seeds is chewed mainly by children for the sweet juice 

 that it contains. The fruits are sprouted by covering them in a pit in December 

 and by March the seeds have germinated and are ready to eat. The sprouted 

 seeds are called mselema (Salima) see Borassics aethiopum. The trees are tapped 

 and the sap allowed to ferment to make a drink called ncema (Y). As the 

 tapping of the trees leads indirectly to their destruction the practice is now forbidden 

 by law so that the making of ncema is much restricted. The leaves are used to make 

 mats, rice bags, etc. ; they are split into thin strips, which are plaited and later 

 sewn together. For a mat a cylindrical structure is first maide which is then slit 

 down one side and the edges bound thus forming the familiar sleeping mat, mkeka. 

 Young leaves and roots are eaten by cattle. 



According to the " Flora of Tropical Africa " 8 : 119-123 (1901 ). H. crinita has an 

 unbranched stem whilst H. coriacea Gaertn, is branched and may be found in 

 Nyasaland. Another Hyphaene in Nyasaland is H. ventricosa Kirk which is un- 

 branched and swollen in the middle, not unlike a Borassus. A very fine photograph 

 was taken by Kirk in 1860-61 of a stand of H. ventricosa in Elephant Marsh and 

 reproduced in Prof. Coupland's book " Kirk on the Zambezi " p. 250 (1928) there 

 is a'so a sketch facing p. 138. Kirk says of H. crinita that it is common 200 miles 

 up the Zambezi also at the south end of Nyasa and on the River Shire*. 



253. Iboza riparia (Hochst.) N.E. Br. (Lab.). 



Gin^ambilo{Q). 



A succulent shrub up to 12 ft. tall with opposite stalked cordate-ovate, deeply 

 and often irregularly crenate membranaceous leaves, flowers small white, pink or 

 mauve in dense whorls in lax, terminal, much-branched panicles normally flowering 

 when quite leafless. Growing amongst rocks on rocky river banks and in moist 

 places in grassland chiefly between 4,000 to 6,000 ft. altitude. 



Said to be a powerful anthelmintic. Used as a contour plant in the Ulugurus 

 (T.). 



*254. Indigofera sp. (Papil.). 



Derye? (See Corchorus sp. for plant of same native name). 



A herbaceous plant with small pinnate whitish leaves, 1-3 cm. long, found in 

 old gardens, seen at Zomba. 



The leaves are said to be cooked as a side-dish. 



255. Inula glomerata Oliv. & Hiern (Comp.). 

 Mabwani, mzabwani (N, C), liweya (Y). 



♦Dr. Kirk on the ''Palms of East Tropical Africa'' Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 9: 235 

 (1866) 



68 



