Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 16: 405 (1911).- Type: Chevalier 9615, Chad (holo- P, iso- K).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 30 (1970); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,1: 34, fig (1971; Ghana grasses: 194 (1977); Gram. Togo: 263 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 430 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 53, fig 10 (1992); Poac. CI: 84, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 10, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritania: 270 (1998); Poac. Niger: 108 (1999); Fl. Bénin: 222, fig (2006) ; Fl. Guinea Bissau: 139 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 467 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 98 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 138 (2015).
Oryza breviligulata Chev. & Roehr., Compt. Rend. Hepd. Séances, Acad. Sci. 187: 560 (1914), nom. superfl.-Type Chevalier 9615 , Chad;
Oryza stapfii Roshev, Trudy Prikl. Bot. 17.4: 15,51 (1931).- Type: Chevalier 642, Mali (lecto- K);
Oryza mezii Prod., Bot. Archiv. 1; 223 (1922).- Type: Schweinfurth 2322, Sudan (iso- K);
Oryza perennis Moench ssp. barthii (A. Chev.) A. Chev., Rev. Bot. Appl. Agric. Trop. 12: 1028 (1932).
Description:
* Stiff erect rhizomatous perennial or annual bunchgrass, branched at the base, up to 1.5 m high. Culms somewhat spongy. Leaves linear, flat or partially folded scabrid on the upper surface but glabrous on the lower one, 15-45 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm broad with scabrid margins; base rounded with a whitened collar; ligule a pinkish membrane, rarely over 6 mm long, thinly membraneous, rounded or truncate; sheath glabrous, slightly compressed towards the apex.
* Inflorescence a stiffly ascending panicle of 15-30 cm long; rhachis stout, branches erect or obliquely ascending with long and pink awned deciduous pedicelled spikelets closely appressed to the persistent wavy rhachis, oblique on the pedicels of 1-6 mm long.
* Spikelets oblong, 9-11 mm long and 3-3.5 mm wide, hispid. Glumes reduced to tiny 2-lobed rims. Sterile lemmas 2·5-4·5 mm. long; fertile lemma coriaceous, with 2 longitudinal lateral grooves and a hispidulous awn of (4 -)10-17 cm long, rose to purplish; fertile palea without or with a short awn of 1 mm. Caryopse linear oblong, 8-9 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan. South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: C, E and southern Africa, Ethiopia.