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Vossia cuspidata
Also called Um Soof Reed
Vossia is a monotypic genus in the grass family, found in Asia and Africa. The only known species is Vossia cuspidata, an aquatic grass native to Africa (from Senegal to Egypt, Somalia, south to Namibia), and to Assam, Bangladesh, and northern Indochina. The common name is hippo grass.
In the Kafue Flats region of Zambia, it is the dominant plant of eutrophic, slow-moving waters. It forms fairly monocultural stands with few other species, but shares this habitat with the tiny free-floating aquatic carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba subsp. exoleta in sheltered areas where the waters are calm. Hippo grass can also be found here together with other plants in areas where different habitats meet, transitioning briefly with the herb Polygonum senegalense and elsewhere the tall cane Sorghum verticilliflorum along the banks of the main river course, as well as on the floodplains with the similar but annual aquatic grass Echinochloa stagnina and elsewhere with the water-lily Nymphaea lotus.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Vossia cuspidata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
