Mitt. Naturw. Vereins Univ. Wien 5: 110 (1907).- Type: Bellardi TO 8242, Italy (isosyn- TO); Balbi s.n., Italy (isosyn- TO); Pappi 5964, Eritrea (isosyn- MO).
Poa cilianensis All., Flor. Pedem. 2: 246 (1785);
Eragrostis megastachya (Koeler) Link, Hort. Berol. 1: 187 (1827);
Poa cachetica Schumach., Beskr. Guin. Pl..: 66 (1827).- Type: Thonning s.n., Ghana (syn- C);
Eragrostis pappi Gand., Bol. Soc. Bot., France 66: 290 (1919, publ. 1920).- Type: Johnston 1046, Sudan (type- K);
Eragrostis schweinfurthiana Jedwabn., Bot. Archiv. 5: 194 (1924).- Type: Schweinfurth 1492, Sudan (holo- B).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 390 (1972); FTEA: 232 (1974); Ghana grasses: 151 (1977); Fl. Sahara: 181 (1977); Gram. Togo: 217 (1983);Fl. Mauritania: 454 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 119, fig. 26 (1992; Poac. CI: 136, fig. (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 283 (1998); Poac. Niger: 192, fig. (1999)); Fl Zambesiaca 10,2: 135, fig (1999); Fl. Bénin: 205 (2006); Pl. Burkina Faso: 86 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 119, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 129 (2015).
Description:
* Loosely tufted annual of 0.1-0.6 m high, green, often slightly glaucous. Culms branched, erect or geniculately ascending, nodes usually dark brown to purplish. Leaves linear, flat, glabrous on the lower surface and scabrid on the upper, 5-20 cm long and 3-11 mm broad, with scabrid margins and glands on the principal nerves; base slightly rounded; ligule a fringe of hairs; sheath terete and ciliate, with irregular glands towards the ligule.
* Inflorescence a large dense or loose open panicle of 10-20 cm long and 5-10 cm wide with scabrid central axis and branches bearing stout flattened spikelets. Branches stiff, up to 5 cm long; spikelets on pedicels, the pedicels and branches distinctly scabrid and with glands in the axils.
* Spikelets light greyish green, flattened, ovate lanceolate, 5-60 florets, 3-20 mm long and 2-4 mm broad. Glumes ovate, often glandular, 1.5-2 mm long. Lemmas ovate, often glandular, 2-2.8 mm long. Caryopsis sub-globular, light brown, 0.5 mm long.
Vernacular names: Burke kulodé (peul, Driiest A., 45).
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo and C, NE, E and southern Africa, Europe, Asia into New Guinea; introduced in Australia and the Americas.