Ess. Agrost. 523: 161, 171 (1812).- Type: König s.n., India (lecto- LD; iso- C).
Panicum stagninum Retz., Ob. Bot. 5: 17 (1791);
Panicum scabrum Lam., Tab. Encycl. 1: 171 (1791).- Type: Roussillon, Senegal (holo- P) ;
Echinochloa scabra (Lam.) Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 2: 479 (1817);
Panicum burgu A. Chev., Rev. Cult. Colon. 7: 513 (1900).- Type: Chevalier 2170, Mali (syn- P; isosyn- K);
Panicum scabrum subsp. lelievrei A. Chev., Comptes Rendues Assoc. Fr. Avanc. Sci. 1900: 651 (1901).- Type: Lelièvre, Senegal (holo- P);
Panicum scabrum subsp. oryzetorum A. Chev., Comptes Rendues Assoc. Fr. Avanc. Sci. 1900: 651 (1901).- Type: Heudelot 300, Senegal (holo- P, iso- K);
Echinochloa oryzetorum (A. Chev.) A. Chev., Rév. Bot. Appliq. 14: 18 (1934);
Echinochloa lelievrei (A. Chev.) Berhaut, Mém. Soc. Bot. fr. 1953-54 : 9 (1954).
Regional litterature: FI. Agr. Congo Belge 2: 144 (1934); FI. Gabon 5: 53, tab. 8 (1962); FWTA: 439 (1972); Ghana grasses: 141 (1977); FTEA: 562 (1982); Fl. Mauritania: 451 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 252, fig. 54 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 201 (2006); Poac. CI:364, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 215, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 298 (1998); Poac. Niger: 403, fig. (1999); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 166 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 136 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 457 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 80 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 127 (2015).
Description:
* Rhizomatous perennial with stout creeping or floating sponguous stolons, rooting at the nodes and then producing erect culms, of 0.3-2 m. Culms procumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, with hairy nodes. Leaves long linear, up to 10-45 cm long and 1-2 cm, glabrous with a fine midrib and markedly scabrid margins; base somewhat narrowed; ligule a fringe of hairs; sheath glabrous. Roots sometimes well developed.
* Inflorescence a large flexible and drooping panicle of 10-30 cm long, with 5-15 ascending racemes, the lower 4-10 cm long, arranged on a central axis with crowded plump spikelets axis and rhacheole scabrid and with long hairs.
* Spikelets subulate, 4-6 mm long with very pronounced nerves with spines. Lower glume less than half of length spikelet; upper glumes as long as spikelet, cuspidate or shortly subulate. Lower lemma as upper glume but long subulated, subule 5-20 mm long, sometimes only up to 2 mm; upper lemma acuminate to mucronate, shiny, straw-yellow at maturity.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo and NE, E and southern Africa and Asia.