Description

A coarse perennial grass, clumped, culms to 3 m high, stout, in shady and damp sites on forest margins in all territories of the Region, and common throughout tropical and S Africa, in tropical America and occasionally found in India.This is the commonest of the tall grass species of Africa. Authorities have previously recognised S. chevalieri Stapf as a separate species with a drooping panicle and flexuous lower branches distinct from a stiff erect panicle in S. megaphylla. But these conditions intergrade and the two entities are now treated as conspecific (5). Reported usages are more or less the same.The grass in general is a good forage appreciated by all stock (1a, b, 7–11, 14–17). There are reports though of it causing scouring (la). It is good for cutting for stall-feeding, yet such use requires care as there are reports of wilted grass producing hydrocyanic acid (21b). Clearly careful study is necessary for a full evaluation as fodder (1b). In Kenya thickets of the grass are reported to harbour tsetse fly. Thus stock browsing therein are at risk of contracting trypanosomiasis (10).The woody culms are used in hut-building (1b–7).The whole plant reduced to ash produces a vegetable salt used in Ubangi (18). In Ivory Coast the ash is applied to sores, and to assuage the pain caused by the spit venom of Naja nigricollis, the spitting, or black-necked cobra, said to be the most dangerous snake of Africa (4a).The plant has anodynal and analgesic properties. Zulu in S Africa apply crushed leaves to bruises (21a). In Congo (Brazzaville) sap is massaged into areas of pain. For more vigorous action the affected part may be scarified by rubbing with the rough leaf, and ash of the calcined plant applied (3a, b). A leaf-decoction is put into a bath or given by mouth in Ivory Coast to babies suffering convulsions or fits of epilepsy (4b). Leaf-sap together with that of Dracaena steudneri (Dracaenaceae (Agavaceae), an E African species, not in W Africa) is given in Tanganyika for mental derangement (12). A leaf-decoction is sedative on cough, and is indicated for oedema (4b). Ijo in SE Nigeria rub leaves crushed with salt on the forehead for headache, and squeeze the sap on to a sore after it has been cleaned (22).The grass has a reputation for beneficial action on urino-genital troubles. A leaf-decoction is given in Ivory Coast for amenorrhoea and blennorrhoea (4b). In Gabon crushed leaves macerated with some chips of bark of a Croton species (Euphorbiaceae) is used in draught or douch for blennorrhoea (19, 20). In Tanganyika the root decocted in palm-wine or pineapple juice or water with sometimes Senna occidentalis (Leguminoseae: Caesalpinioideae) or Ficus sp. (Moraceae) added is taken 1 glassful x 3 daily for blennorhoea, while the same preparation is given to a pregnant woman to ease delivery (3a). The root in Ubangi is held to be abortifacient (18). The plant with Cissus aralioides (Vitaceae) and Selaginella sp. (Selaginellaceae) is used in Congo (Brazziville) to prepare a bath for someone with fever, especially if the fever is due to meeting an evil spirit (3a). In cases of listlessness and sleepiness a root-decoction is given in Ubangi as a pick-me-up, and after downing it, the patient’s face is washed with a leaf-decoction (18).The broadly pleated linear leaves are used in Ghana to wrap (? for cooking) plantains (13).The grain in S Africa has been reported as toxic to small birds (1b, 7, 21a, b).