FTA 9: 625 (1920).- Type: Lécard 246, Mali (syn- K); Chevalier 5574, CAR (syn- P).
Acroceras basicladum Stapf, FTA 9: 626 (1920).- Type: Vanderyst 4118, DRC (syn- K) and several other syns.
Regional litterature: Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 70 (1934); FWTA: 435 (1972); Ghana grasses: 87, fig. 2 (1977); FTEA: 565 (1982); Gram. Togo: 129 (1983); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,3: 48 (1989); Fl. Senegal 10: 40, fig 12, 13 (1991, unpubl.); Fl. Mauritania: 429 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 243 fig. 54 (1992); Pl. Mauritanie: 298 (1998); Poac. CI:348, fig. (1995); Poac. Niger: 394, fig. (1999); Fl. Bénin: 175 (2006); Pl. Vasc, Guiné-Bissau: 161 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 133 (2008); Fl.Guinée: 447 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 66 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan& S Sudan: 117 (2015)
Description:
* Scrambling annual of 0.5-0.9 m high, glabrous. Culms well branched, weakly rising, rooting at lower nodes. Leaves linear to linear lanceolate, 5-20 cm long and about 5-10 mm broad, subcordate and amplexicaul at the base, acute tip, base broadly lobed; ligule absent or a short ciliate membrane; sheaths hairy.
* Inflorescence composed of 3-6 racemes divergent from central axis of 10-30 cm long. Racemes 5-12 cm long; rachis glabrous. Spikelets in pairs, unequally pedicelled; pedicels linear, 1-5 mm long, angular.
* Spikelets elliptical lanceolate, 5-6 mm long, light green with darker tips; callus glabrous. Glumes dissimilar; lower glume lanceolate, 0.5-0.8 length of spikelet, keel-less except near apex, acuminate; upper glume ovate, as long as spikelet, apex laterally pinched. Lower lemma similar to upper glume, ovate, laterally pinched at apex; upper lemma oblong, dorsally compressed, 4-5.5 mm long, indurate, pallid with a little green crest, margins involute; palea reflexed at apex, indurate.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon and Tanzania, Asia, America.