Fl. Oware 2: 36 (1812).- Type: Palisot de Beauvois s.n., Nigeria (holo- G).
Fl. Oware 2: 36 (1816).- Type: Palisot de Beauvois s.n., Nigeria (holo- G; iso- P?).
Vilfa pyramidalis (P. Beauv.) Steud., Nom. Bot. Ed. 2,2 : 78 (1841) ;
Agrostis extensa Schumach., Beskr. Guin. Pl.: 45 (1827).- Type: Thonning 381, Ghana (holo- C);
Sporobolus jacquemontii Kunth Révis. Gram. 2 : 427 (1831).- Type : Jacquemont s.n, St Domingue., Dominican Rep. (holo- P ; iso- L,LE,MPU) ;
Sporobolus pyramidalis var. jacquemonti (Kunth) Jovet & Guédès, Bull. Centre Ét. Rech. Sci., Biarritz 7: 60 (1968) ;
Sporobolus indicus var. pyramidalis (P. Beauv.) Veldkamp, Blumea 35: 439 (1991).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 408 (1972); FTEA: 373, 374 (1974); Ghana grasses: 241, fig. 88 (1977); Gram. Togo: 324, fig. (1983); Gram. Cameroun: 154, fig. 32 (1992); Poac. CI: 204, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 148, fig (1995); Poac. Niger: 299, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 184, fig (1999); Fl. Bénin: 246, fig. (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 175 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 143 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 479 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 115 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 148 (2015).
Description:
* Dense leafy perennial bunchgrass, 0.3-1 m high, sometimes up to 1.8 m. Culms tough, slender, erect. Leaves long linear, flat folded or rolled, glabrous, glaucous, up to 50 cm long and 3-10 mm broad, with one or two palpable constrictions positioned at 1/3 intervals along the blade and slightly scabrid margins; base narrow, barely rounded or passing directly into sheath; ligule a short ciliated membrane; sheaths glabrous, the lower ones compressed and keeled, smooth and shining, tending to become bulbous at the base. Roots well developed, extremely tough and tenacious.
* Inflorescence a spreading to contracted ascending linear panicle of 10-50 cm long, densely scattered branches on a central axis, the lower 2-10 cm long. Numerous tiny greenish spikelets clustered about the whole length of the primary branches.
* Spikelets elliptical, green, sometimes purplish, 1.5-2 mm long, greyish green or dark grey. Lower glume oblong and hyaline, 0.2-0.6 mm long; upper glume obtuse, less than 1/3 of spikelet length, often denticulate and acute. Lemma as long as spikelet, tip often slightly incurving. Anthers 3, 0.7-1.2 mm long. Caryopsis obovate, truncate, 0.8-1 mm long.
Vernacular names: Kubat kolokot (mafa matakam, Letouzey 6944); letchumenza (bamilike, Surville 560); lemko (Kieffer 18); lemmo (peuhl, Malzy 184); nalle wainabeho (SRFK 4629); nha (bamoun, Surville 560); pagamé (foulfouldé); lemno mayo (foulbé, Wakwa 22).
Distribution West Africa: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Gabon, and C, NE, E and southern Africa, Arabia, tropical Americas; introduced in Australia.