Plants
AFROTROPICAL Freshwater (Rivers, Lakes & Wetlands)

Kingdom Plantae

Order Nymphaeles

Family Nymphaeaceae

(Lake Victoria, Uganda)

Nymphea  nouchali (caerulea), 'Water Lily'. Perhaps the most famous and striking of the African wetland flowers. This is a species with many forms around the world. It is also now widely cultivated. Unfortunately, it is also associated with the snail that is the main host for  (human) schistosomiasis. 

Order Asparagales

Family Orchidaceae

(Lake Victoria, Uganda)

Maybe Eulophia calanthe, 'Swamp Orchid'.

Order Poales

Family Cyperaceae

(Lake Victoria, Uganda)

Cyperus papyrus, 'Papyrus'. This famous plant provided the first paper in the world in ancient Egypt.

Order Malpighiales

Family Euphorbiaceae

(Kazinga Channel, Uganda)

Euphorbia candelabrum.

Order Caryophyllales

Family Polygonaceae

(Lake Victoria, Uganda)

Persicaria limbata, 'Knotweed'. Grows with long bamboo like stems. Small pink-red flowers grown from heads at end of twin stems.

Back to the page on Afrotropical Wetlands

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