Kew Bull. 37: 419 (1982).- Type: Leprieur s.n., Senegal (holo- P; iso- K).
Chloris prieurii Kunth, Rev. Gram. 2: 441 (1831);
Chloris cryptostachya JA Schmidt, Beitr. Fl. Cap. Verd. Ins.: 148 (1852).- Type: Kotschy 23, Sudan, Abu-Gerad (syn- L,W); Schmidt s.n., Cape Verde Isl. (syn- P,W) ;
Chloris subtriflora Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 208 (1854);
Chloris punctulata Steud., Syn. Pl.. Glum. 1: 205 (1854).- Type: Kotschy 23, Sudan (holo- P; iso- K,L,W);
Chloris parva Mimeur, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat., sér. 2, 22: 128 (1950).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 400, 402 (1972); FTEA: 340 (1974); Ghana grasses: 120 (1977); Fl. Mauritania: 446 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 177, fig. 38 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 171, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 289 (1998); Poac. Niger: 276, fig. (1999); Pl. Burkina Faso: 80 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 128 (2015).
Description:
* Well branched weakly stoloniferous annual or perennial of 0.3-0.8 m high. Culms geniculate or erec, rooting at the lower nodes. Leaves short linear tapering, usually flat, up to 30 cm long and 2-5 mm broad, glabrous with scabrid margins; base rounded; ligule a short membrane.
* Inflorescence 4-7 slender racemes, digitate on the tip of the culm. Racemes 3-9 cm long, fragile with a hairy rachis.
* Spikelets with 4-6 florets, only the lower one fertile, 4-6 awns of 4-16 mm long, dark when ripe; callus acute to pungent, ciliated. Glumes lanceolate, the lower 2 mm, the upper 4 mm long. Fertile lemma laterally compressed, oblong lanceolate, 3-4.5 mm long and shortly ciliated along the margins, with a line of glands on both sides of the keel, long-awned, longest awn up to 18 mm; fertile palea with glands; upper lemmas reduced.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan
Distribution world-wide: Eritrea, Tanzania, Namibia, Arabic peninsular, India.