Echinochloa .] 
OLVII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
617 
Niamniam country ; Nabambisso, Schweinfurth, 3730 ! Uganda : Unyoro ; in 
marshes, Grant, 580 ! Entebbe, Fyffe, 30 ! Rosoga, 3900 ft., Broun, 257 ! 
swamps near Kirgemma, Dummer, 778 ! Namanyongi, 4000 ft., Bummer, 
2571 ! in a small stream between Dondafle and Elmenteita, Scott Elliot, 6844 ! 
Lower Guinea. Belgian Congo : Lower Congo, Smith ! Boma Distr. ; Boma, 
banks of the Congo, Hens, A. '202' Stanley Pool Distr. ; Kisantu, Gillet, 
370 ! 1104 ! between Leopoldville and~^Tombaxi, Gillet, 2618 ! Makayobo, 
Vanderyst, 3772 ! Muschie, Vanderyst, 3916 ! Bokola, Vanderyst*, 4791 ! 
Angola : Barrado Bengo ; on the banks of the Bengo river, Welwitsch, 2902 ! 
Quifandongo on the Bengo river, Welwitsch, 7449 ! Loanda ?, Welwitsch, 
7351 b ! Purigo Andongo ; damp places near Sansamanda, Welwitsch, 2797 ! 
Cordo, Welwitsch, 2747 ! 
Mozambique Distr. Nyasaland : common in Northern Nyasaland, Scott 
Elliot, 8275 ! Nyika plateau, Mwanemba Hill, 7000 ft., McClounie, 11 ! between 
Kondowe and Karonga, 2000-6000 ft., Whyte, 355 ! Namasi, Cameron, 22 ! 
Shire Highlands, Buchanan, 6 ! Elephant Marsh, Kirk ! floating by the sides 
of the Shire river, and often forming large islands which pass down the stream , 
Kirk ! above Morambala Marsh, Scott ! Portuguese East Africa : Shupanga, 
Kirk ! Rhodesia : Salisbury Distr., Mundy ! Makbusi Valley, Eyles, 621 ! 
North Rhodesia ; near Mumbwa, 15° S. Lat., 28° E. Long., Mrs. Macaulay, 46 ! 
Mashonaland ; North Mazoe distr., Mundy ! 
The Abyssinian specimens described as Panicum quadrifarium and P. atrovio- 
laceum appear rather different at first sight on account of the unusually 
rich colouring of the panicle and the relative or absolute smoothness of the 
spikelets ; but they can be matched with specimens from almost any section 
of the area of typical E. pyramidalis. They may represent definite races, but 
if so they are not yet clearly segregable. 
E. pyramidalis, together with E. stagnina, are the chief constituents of the 
great water meadows of the inundation region of the Niger and of Lake Chad, 
and also enter largely into the “ sudd ” of the Nile and other African rivers. 
According to Chevalier the grains are used as food in Bornu (vulg. Kreb or 
Kasha) and in Senegambia and the French Sudan (vulg. Lingui). Barter states 
that in Nupe “ an impure salt or carbonate of soda is made by burning this 
grass, used for culinary purposes when salt is not to be procured,” and Lecard 
describes it as an excefienj; fodder grass, much relished by animals. 
8. E. st&gmri&^P/Beauv. Agrost. 181. Perennial (occasionally, 
annual or at least flowering the first year), rising to 6 ft. from long 
creeping and copiously rooting rhizomes. Culms geniculately ascend- 
ing, rooting and frequently branching from the submerged nodes, 
slender or more usually stout, up to over 4 lin. in diam., many- 
noded, simple upwards, sheathed all along or some of the internodes 
at length exserted, smooth and glabrous. Leaf-sheaths terete or 
subcarinate upwards, smooth and glabrous, rarely pubescent or 
silkily hairy at the lower nodes, usually more or less ciliate or bearded 
close to the mouth, the basal often spongy and up to over 6 in. long ; 
ligule a fringe of rather long stiff hairs or 0 in the uppermost leaves ; 
blades linear from a scarcely or long but slightly attenuated and 
hardly constricted or decurrent base, long-tapering to a fine point, 
i to more than 1J ft. by 2J-10 lin., flat, rigid, or (in weak or annual 
specimens) flaccid, glabrous, deep green ( Chevalier ), very rough 
upwards, margins scabrid to spinulose, or more or less glaucous, 
midrib whitish and striate and flat above, in large leaves rarely over 
1 lin. wide near the base, rounded and much less conspicuous on the 
back, primary lateral nerves 3-5 on each side, like the very close 
