Hort. Berol. 2: 209 (1833).- Type: Brown in Hb. Linn. 80-23, Jamaica (holo- LINN).
Panicum colonum Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 10,2: 870 (1759);
Panicum brachariaeforme Steud., Syn Pl. Glum. 1: 54 (1854).- Type: LeJoli, West Africa (holo- P);
Echinochloa equitans (A. Rich.) C.E. Hubb., Expl. Parc Nat. Garamba 4: 33 (1956).- Type: Schimper 1608, Ethiopia (iso- K);
Echinochloa colona var. equitans (A. Rich.) Cuf., B.J.B.B. 39, Suppl.: 1320 (1969);
Panicum daltonii Parl. ex Web., Niger Fl. 185 (1849).- Type: Hooker 83, Cape Verde, St Jago (- K).
Regional litterature: Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 138 (1934); FWTA: 439 (1972); Ghana grasses: 141, fig. 31 (1977); Fl. Sahara: 157 (1977); FTEA: 557 (1982); Gram. Togo: 201, fig. (1983); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,3: 53 (1989); Fl. Mauritania: 451 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 248, fig. 54 (1992); Poac. CI:370, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 212, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 298 (1998); Poac. Niger: 404, fig. (1999); Fl. Bénin: 201, fig (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 166 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 136 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 456 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 82 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 127 (2015)
Description:
* Simple, often tufted, erect or geniculate ascending straggling annual, up to 0.6 m high, often rooting at the lower nodes. Culms glabrous, green or purple at the base. Leaves long linear, 8-38 cm long and 0.6-4 cm broad, soft and glabrous with the midrib protruding sharply but finely on the lower surface and slightly scabrid margins; base barely rounded, passing almost directly into the sheath; ligule absent; sheath glabrous, slightly compressed. Roots well developed, matted.
* Inflorescence linearly with a central axe of 6-15 cm long and alternate 8-14 short ascending, non branched racemes of 2-3 cm long crowded with spikelets in 4 rows.
* Spikelets acuminate, sometimes with a short mucro, 2.5-3 mm long, shortly pubescent. Lower glume acuminate, 1 mm long; upper glume and lower lemma as long as spikelet, cuspidate, 5-7-nerved; lower floret sterile; upper lemma glossy, whitish, 2 mm.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, WSA, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Lybia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, Congo, Gabon, NE, C, E and southern Africa, Asia, introduced in Europe, Australia and the Americas.