Misplaced Pages

#936063

23-768: The geographic centre of Uganda is north of Lake Kyoga in Olyaka village, Olyaka parish in Namasale sub-county in Amolatar District , Northern Uganda . The point is marked by the Amolatar Monument aka Uganda Tribes Monument which displays the names of all ethnic tribes in Uganda . The Amolatar peninsula offered refuge to different tribes during the Karimojong cattle rustling of the 1970s through to

46-400: A point along Kampala–Gulu Highway , west of Lake Kyoga. 1°35′17″N 32°43′02″E  /  1.588130°N 32.717280°E  / 1.588130; 32.717280 Lake Kyoga The lake reaches a depth of about 5.7 metres, and most of it is less than 4 metres deep. Areas that are less than 3 metres deep are completely covered by water lilies , while much of the swampy shoreline

69-532: A smaller number of other fish species like Lake Victoria sardine and marbled lungfish . Many of the haplochromine cichlids are endemic , but very closely related to the Lake Victoria species, and showing a similar level of diversity in terms of feeding. The Kyoga cichlids include both described species like Haplochromis latifasciatus and H. worthingtoni , and undescribed like H. sp. "Kyoga flameback" and H. sp. "ruby" . As in Lake Victoria,

92-504: Is by wind, not insects, and the mature fruits after release are distributed by water. Papyrus is a C4 sedge that forms highly productive monotypic stands over large areas of wetland in Africa. The papyrus plant is relatively easy to grow from seed, though in Egypt, it is more common to split the rootstock , and grows quite fast once established. Extremely moist soil or roots sunken in

115-457: Is covered with papyrus and the invasive water hyacinth . The papyrus also forms floating islands that drift between a number of small permanent islands. Extensive wetlands fed by a complex system of streams and rivers surround the lakes. Its extensions include; Lake Kwania , Lake Bisina , lake Bugondo and Lake Opeta . Nile crocodiles are numerous, as is aquatic fauna. There are at least 60 haplochromine cichlid species, as well as

138-453: Is topped by a dense cluster of thin, bright green, thread-like rays around 10 to 30 cm (4 to 10 in) in length, resembling a feather duster when the plant is young. Greenish-brown flower clusters eventually appear at the ends of the rays, giving way to brown, nut-like fruits . Although no leaves are apparent above the soil line, the younger parts of the rhizome are covered by red-brown, papery, triangular scales, which also cover

161-597: The Ancient Egyptians (as it is the source of papyrus paper, one of the first types of paper ever made). Parts of the plant can be eaten, and the highly buoyant stems can be made into boats. It is now often cultivated as an ornamental plant . In nature, it grows in full sun, in flooded swamps, and on lake margins throughout Africa, Madagascar, and the Mediterranean countries. It has been introduced outside its range to tropical regions worldwide (such as

184-592: The Nile Delta , Cyperus papyrus was widely cultivated in ancient times. It is for example depicted on a restored stucco fragment from the palace of Amenhotep III near the present-day village of Malkata . Currently, only a small population remains in Egypt, in Wadi El Natrun . Theophrastus 's History of Plants (Book iv. 10) states that it grew in Syria , and according to Pliny's Natural History , it

207-824: The Okavango Delta use small sections of the stem as floats for their nets. Papyrus can be found in tropical rain forests, tolerating annual temperatures of 20 to 30 °C (68 to 86 °F) and a soil pH of 6.0 to 8.5. It flowers in late summer, and prefers full sun to partly shady conditions. Like most tropical plants, it is sensitive to frost. In the United States, it has become invasive in Florida and has escaped from cultivation in Louisiana , California , and Hawaii . Papyrus sedge forms vast stands in swamps, shallow lakes, and along stream banks throughout

230-510: The Royal Horticultural Society 's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017). In Ancient Egypt, papyrus was used for various purposes such as baskets, sandals, blankets, medicine, incense, and boats. The woody root was used to make bowls and utensils, and was burned for fuel. The Papyrus Ebers refers to the use of soft papyrus tampons by Egyptian women in the 15th century BCE. Egyptians made efficient use of all parts of

253-479: The 1980s and early 1990s most of whom ended up settling in the district. Once a year, in September, people from all tribes of the region gather at this place and pray. The method by which the coordinates of this geographical centre were determined is not known. The centre point of a bounding box completely enclosing the area of Uganda results in another pair of coordinates (1.368153|N|32.303236|E) which belongs to

SECTION 10

#1732793866937

276-630: The Indian subcontinent, South America, and the Caribbean). This tall, robust aquatic plant can grow 4 to 5 m (13 to 16 ft) high, but on the margins of high altitude lakes such as Lake Naivasha in Kenya and Lake Tana in Ethiopia, at altitudes around 6,000 feet (1,800 m) the papyrus culms can measure up to 29.5 feet (9.0 m) in length, with an additional 18 inches (46 cm) for

299-543: The Kyoga cichlids have been decimated by the introduced Nile perch and some species are already extinct. Because Kyoga generally is shallow and swampy, some subsections—"satellite lakes"—are isolated to various degrees from the main lake. The number of surviving haplochromine cichlids in each subsection is directly related to the status of the Nile perch. Despite being the largest by far, less than 50 haplochromine species survive in

322-675: The Lake Kyoga system has gradually shifted from once targeting many native species, to now primarily targeting the native Lake Victoria sardine, the introduced Nile perch and introduced Nile tilapia (the two native tilapias, the Singida and Victoria , have become very rare, except in some satellite lakes). In 2006, only 4% of catches were haplochromine cichlids. Lake Kyoga has flora that includes; Pistia stratiodes (Water Lettuce), Cyperus Papyrus , Hyppo Grass , water Lily. Cyperus papyrus Cyperus papyrus , better known by

345-518: The base of the culms. Technically, these are reduced leaves , so strictly it is not quite correct to call this plant fully "leafless". Egyptians used the plant (which they called aaru , or the subspecies C. p. papyrus , [2] which came very close to extinction, but was rediscovered in 1968. ) for many purposes, including for making papyrus paper. Its name has an uncertain origin, but was rendered in Hellenistic Greek as πάπυρος. In

368-417: The common names papyrus , papyrus sedge , paper reed , Indian matting plant , or Nile grass , is a species of aquatic flowering plant belonging to the sedge family Cyperaceae . It is a tender herbaceous perennial , native to Africa, and forms tall stands of reed-like swamp vegetation in shallow water. Papyrus sedge (and its close relatives) has a very long history of use by humans, notably by

391-479: The gods in gratitude. The pith of young shoots was eaten both cooked and raw. Its woody root made bowls and other utensils and was burned for fuel. From the stems were made reed boats (seen in bas-reliefs of the Fourth Dynasty showing men cutting papyrus to build a boat; similar boats are still made in southern Sudan ), sails, mats, cloth, cordage, and sandals. Theophrastus states that King Antigonus made

414-483: The inflorescence (a spicate umbel; i.e. each of the up to one thousand rays of the umbel terminates in a spike of small flowers) for a total height of 31 feet (9.4 m). Each culm is a single internode ‍ — ‍ the longest known of any plant. At Lake Naivasha, the culms, triangular in cross-section, were as much as 7 inches (18 cm) on a side in width. It forms a grass-like clump of triangular green stems that rise up from thick, woody rhizomes . Each stem

437-425: The main section where the Nile perch is common. In comparison, the much smaller satellite lakes Lemwa, Nyaguo and Nawampasa lack Nile perch, but at least 50 haplochromine species survive in each of the first two, and at least 60 in the last. Conversely, the small satellite lakes Nakuwa and Nyasala where Nile perch is abundant have less than 30 and 5 surviving haplochromines respectively. This also means that fishing in

460-420: The rigging of his fleet of papyrus, an old practice illustrated by the ship's cable, wherewith the doors were fastened when Odysseus slew the suitors in his hall ( Odyssey xxi. 390). The adventurer Thor Heyerdahl had a boat built for him of papyrus, Ra , in an attempt to demonstrate that ancient African or Mediterranean people could have reached America. He was unsuccessful with this boat. Fishermen in

483-462: The water is preferred and the plant can flower all year long. Vegetative propagation is the suggested process of creating new plants. It is done by splitting the rhizomes into small groups and planting normally. It can reach heights of up to 16 feet tall. C. papyrus is considered to be hardy in USDA hardiness zones 9 and 10. C. papyrus and the dwarf cultivar C. papyrus 'Nanus' have gained

SECTION 20

#1732793866937

506-518: The wetter parts of Africa, but it has become rare in the Nile Delta . In deeper waters, it is the chief constituent of the floating, tangled masses of vegetation known as sudd . It also occurs in Madagascar , and some Mediterranean areas such as Sicily and the Levant . The "feather-duster" flowering heads make ideal nesting sites for many social species of birds. As in most sedges, pollination

529-582: Was also a native plant of the Niger River and the Euphrates . Neither the explorer Peter Forsskål , an apostle of Carl Linnaeus , in the 18th century, nor the Napoleonic expedition saw it in the delta. Aside from papyrus, several other members of the genus Cyperus may also have been involved in the multiple uses Egyptians found for the plant. Its flowering heads were linked to make garlands for

#936063