Eleocharis variegata
Content
Distribution
Africa: Seychelles (Seychelles present), Asia-Tropical, Madagascar present, Mauritius present, N. Sumatra present, NE. New Guinea present, S. foot of Mt Piso-piso, NW. of Toba Lake present, Tropical Africa present, Western Highlands present
Tropical Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, in Malesia only a few times collected: N. Sumatra (S. foot of Mt Piso-piso, NW. of Toba Lake, LÖRZING 9374) and NE. New Guinea (Western Highlands). Distribution map in .
Notes
Though in habit very similar to E. ochro- stachys readily recognized by the large inflated outer cells of the nut, according to SVENSON approached nowhere else in the genus except in the Caribbean E. cellulosa TORR. In the Malesian specimens the stems are more or less quadrangular (with one of the sides narrower than the other ones), especially in the upper part. Therefore they agree very well with the description of E. calocarpa CHERM. () from tropical Africa, of which I have not seen the type. In SVENSON'S opinion E. variegata and E. calocarpa are very closely related, the chief distinction lying in the 4-angled stems of E. calocarpa as compared with the cylindrical stems of E. variegata, which are sometimes trigonous below the inflorescence. It is somewhat surprising that one of the collections cited by SVENSON under E. calocarpa is annotated ‘culms terete'. As in my opinion angular stems alone are an unsatisfactory character for specific separation, I referred the Malesian speci- mens to E. variegata.