Kew Bull 34: 557 (1980).- Type: Büttner 555, Gabon, Sibange (holo- W).
Panicum gabunense Hack., Ver. Bot. Ver. Brandenb. 31: 70 (1889);
Commelinidium gabunense (Franch.) Stapf, FTA: 9: 629 (1920);
Commelidium nervosum Stapf, FTA 9: 629 (1920).- Type: Chevalier 16396, Ivory Coast (syn- P), 22598, Ivory Coast (syn- K);
Echinochloa nervosa (Stapf) Roberty, Bull. I.F.A.N., sér. A, 17: 64 (1955);
Panicum mayumbense Franch., Bull Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun 8: 343 (1895).- Type: Thollon 1209, Congo (syn- P); Hens 101, DRC (isosyn- K);
Commelinidium mayumbense (Franch.) Stapf, FTA 9: 628 (1920).
Regional litterature: Fl. Agr. Congo Belge 2: 71,73 (1934); Fl. Gabon: 15, 16 tab. 1:5-9 (1962); FWTA: 436 (1972); Ghana grasses: 123, fig 23 (1977); FTEA: 567 (1982); Gram. Togo: 130, fig. (1983); Fl. Senegal 10: 41, fig 14, 15 (1991, unpubl.); Gram. Cameroun: 243, fig. 51 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 175, fig (2006); Poac. CI:352, fig. (1995); Fl.Guinée: 447 (2009); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 117 (2015)
Description:
* Prostrate or more frequently a simple lax scrambling perennial, up to 0.5-1 m. Culms smooth, leafy throughout, rooting from the lower nodes and developing long hanging aerial roots from the higher ones. Leaves broadly lanceolate, 2-12 cm long, 10-40 mm wide, tapering to a finely acute point, glabrous with scabrid, distinct cross veins; base asymmetrical; ligule a short membrane; sheaths tightly clasping the culm, slightly hairy towards the apex, otherwise glabrous. Roots delicate, sparse.
* Inflorescence terminal and axillary spiciformous racemes borne in the upper leaf axils along a central axis 3-20 cm long; rachis angular, pubescent on surface. Racemes 3-10, unilateral, 2-7 cm long. Spikelets in pairs, pedicelled. Pedicels linear, angular, unequal, 1-mm long.
* Spikelets oblong, 4.5-5.5 mm long; callus glabrous, base truncate; rhachilla internodes elongated between glumes. Lower glume ovate, ½ length of spikelet, puberulous and hairy at apex, acute; upper glume elliptic, as long as spikelet, puberulous, hairy at apex, tip laterally pinched. Lower lemma similar to upper glume, elliptic, tip laterally pinched; upper lemma lanceolate, dorsally compressed, 4-5 mm long, indurate, pallid and shiny, margins involute, acute, pubescent, with a little green crest; palea reflexed at tip, elliptic, involute.
A scrambling perennial with long aerial roots from the higher nodes and broad leaves.
Distribution West Africa: Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Gabon, Congo, Uganda and Angola.