Ecologie :

(In Africa:) stream sides also in wet forest, swampy places; occasionally cultivated (source of beads; fodder); 0-2000 m alt. There is considerable variation in size, colour and hardness of cupules; only var. lacryma-jobi with large hard ovoid cupules seems to have been introduced (Africa). Indigenous to S & E Asia; Found “wild” in W. Africa from Senegal to W Cameroon, locally in Zaire; in E. Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania S wards to Zimbabwe (C) and SE S. Africa, also in NW Angola. In N. Africa: Algeria, Egypt; also Madeira, Canary Islands cultivated since ancient times, 3000-4000 years ago in India, 2000 years ago in China, and was very important before maize and rice became widespread staple foods (Brink & Belay, o.c.: 46-47). – A good fodder plant. Dispersed by man to tropical America and to most temperate countries worldwide, often running wild. . There are some varieties and cultivated races in Asia, but only var. lacryma-jobi is known in Africa, spontaneous and anthropophile around villages and in old cultivation sites (Burkill, o.c.: 206).