Ess. Agrost., t. 15, f.2 (1812).- Type: Brown in Hb. Linn. 91-12, Egypt or India (holo- LINN).
Cynosurus aegyptius Linn., Sp. Pl. 72 (1753) ;
Dactyloctenium aegyptium var. aristatum (Link) A. Chev.
Regional litterature: FWTA: 395, fig.: 431 (1972); FTEA: 252 (1974); Ghana grasses: 131, fig. 28 (1977); Fl. Sahara: 174 (1977); Gram. Togo: 189, fig. (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 417, fig (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 140, fig. 30 (1992); Poac. CI:146, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 135, fig. (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 286 (1998); Poac. Niger: 226, fig. (1999); Fl Zambesiaca 10,2: 163, fig (1999); Fl. Bénin: 196, fig. (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 165 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 135 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 454 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 79 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 124 (2015).
Description:
* Loosely tufted or usually a stoloniferous mat-forming annual or short-lived perennial of 0.1-0.6 m high. Culms erect, vigorous branched. Leaves broad linear, often partially folded and keeled at the base, soft, both surfaces sparsely hairy, 20 cm long and 10 mm broad, the margins fringed with well-spaced hairs; base rounded with a translucent-white collar; ligule a small white membrane; sheath glabrous, somewhat compressed and keeled, the basal ones strongly.
* Inflorescence terminal with 3-5 flat pale green horizontal digitate racemes of 2-7 cm long, each bearing its spikelets densely crowded in two rows on the underside of the rachis which ends in a conspicuous free point; the rachis and glumes forming a pale persistent ‘herringbone’ when dry.
* Spikelets with 3-5 florets, broadly ovate, 3-4 mm long. Glume lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm long, upper glume elliptic, the smooth keel extending into a mucro of 1-1.5 mm long. Lemmas ovate, 2.5-4 mm long, acuminate or with a short awn of 1 mm. Anthers 0.3-0.8 mm long. Caryopsis broadly obovate, 1 mm long, transversely rugose.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad Sudan and South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Algeria, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon and NE, C, E and southern Africa, Asia and Australia; introduced in Southern Europe, Australia and the Americas.