Beskr. Guin. Pl. 55 (1827).- Type: Thonning 371, Ghana (holo- C); Denton 41, Nigeria (- K).
Chloris nigra Hack., Bol. Soc. Brot. 21: 179 (1906).- Type: Barjona, Cape Verde (holo- W);
Chloris pilosa var. nigra (Hack.) VandenBerghen, Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 57: 455 (1987);
Chloris breviseta Benth., Niger Fl.: 566 (1849).- Type Vogel 41, Ghana (syn- K);
Chloris subtriflora Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 208 (1854).- Type: Leprieur, Gambia.
Regional litterature: FWTA: 400 (1972); FTEA: 345 (1974); Ghana grasses: 120, fig 19 (1977); Gram. Togo: 174 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 446 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 173, fig. 36 (1992); Poac. CI: 166, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 169, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 288 (1998); Pl. Mauritanie: 288 (1998); Poac. Niger: 264, fig. (1999); Fl. Bénin 192 (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 164 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 134 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 453 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 76 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 123 (2015).
Description:
* Decumbent to erect branched annual bunchgrass of 0.2-0.9 m high, often rooting from the lower nodes and occasionally shortly stoloniferous. Culms slightly compressed towards the base; nodes dark. Leaves linear, partially folded, 10-35 cm long and 3-5 mm broad, glabrous with scabrid margins; base slightly rounded with a tuft of hairs; ligule vestigial; sheath glabrous, the lower ones markedly compressed.
* Inflorescence 3-15 loosely digitate racemes, terminal on the tip of the culm, pale when young turning purplish and black at maturity. Racemes 2-6 cm long.
* Spikelets claviform, with 3 florets and 2 long awns; callus rounded, ciliate. Lower glume 1-2 mm long, upper glume 2-3 mm, including the fine short pale awn, sometimes muticous. Lemmas shortly awned, ciliate on the keel, lower lemma ovate elliptic, 2.5-3 mm long with an awn of 0.5-5 mm, sometimes almost awnless; upper lemmas empty; lemmas fall when ripe, leaving the herringbone-like rhachis with glumes.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinee and Eritrea, C, E and southern Africa.