The macrophytic vegetation of the draw‐down area of Lake Kainji, Nigeria

Summary Recent publications on the vegetation of Lake Kainji, Nigeria, give the impression that Echinochloa pyramidalis is the dominant macrophyte species of the lake. However, our experience of working on the lake since 1979 suggests a different floristic composition of the macrophyte vegetation of the lake. The most frequent macrophyte in Lake Kainji is Echinochloa stagnina. At all sites investigated, emergent macrophytes are more important than floating macrophytes. There is a possible successional shift from an Echinochloa pyramidalis sere to an Echinochloa stagnina stage. This argument does not, however, preclude the possibility of a mis‐identification by early workers.