Fedde Rep. 17: 294 (1921).- Type: Barter s.n., Nigeria (holo- /B, iso- K,P).
Sporobolus schnellii A. Chevalier Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., 2 : 20 ; 469 (1948).- Type: Schnell 3436, Mts Nimba, Guinea (holo- P);
Sporobolus tenuis A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., 2 : 20 ; 470 (1948).- Type: Chevalier 5489, Krebedje-Kemo, CAR (holo- P), nom. nudum.
Regional litterature: FWTA: 410 (1972); Ghana grasses: 240 (1977); Gram. Cameroun: 158 (1992); Poac. CI: 212, fig. (1995); Fl. Guinée: 479 (2009); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Small erect annual bunchgrass with slender culms, 0.1-0.3 m high. Culms erect, slender, weak. Leaves often sparse, short narrowly linear, frequently folded, glabrous with scabrid margins, 1-6 cm long and 1-2.5 mm broad with scabrid margins, the base passing directly into the sheaths; ligule a short fringe of hairs; sheath glabrous. Roots a fine dense fibrous mat.
* Inflorescence a delicate, elliptic, stiffly spreading, purplish panicle, lanceolate, 3-9 cm long and 1-3 cm wide; primary branches capillary, ascending, 1-2.5 cm long, glabrous in the axils. Pedicels filiform, 1-4 mm long.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 1.2-1.7 mm long. Lower glume ovate, obtuse to denticulate, 0.4-0.5 mm long; upper glume ovate, 0.7-1 mm long, acute, muticous, 1-veined. Lemma elliptic, 1-veined, as long as spikelet; palea 2-veined. Anthers 3, 0.5 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid, 0.6-0.8 mm long, brown.
Distribution West Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad.
Distribution world-wide: Congo and Uganda.