Sudania 1: 163 (1911).- Type: Roger 56, Senegal (iso- K).
Panicum gayanum Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1: 239 (1829);
Panicum didymostachyum Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 97 (1854).- Type: Leprieur, Senegal (holo- L).
Regional litterature: FI. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 32 (1934); FI. Nigeria: 60 (1970); FWTA: 453 (1972); Ghana grasses: 137(1977); FTEA: 430 (1982); Gram. Togo: 196 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 449 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 320, fig. 67 (1992); Pl. Mauritanie: 301 (1998); Poac. CI: 430, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 248 (1995); Poac. Niger: 455, fig. (1999); Fl. Bénin: 198 (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 165 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 135 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 455 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 80 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 126 (2015).
Description:
* Rather lax annual bunchgrass of 0.3-0.9 m high. Culms yellow, weak and easily crushed, sometimes branched, erect or ascending sometimes rooting at the lower nodes,. Leaves linear lanceolate, 3-15 cm long and 2-8 mm wide, flat, sparsely short hairy on both surfaces, margins fringed with short well spaced hairs and slightly scabrid; base slightly rounded, sometimes hairy; ligule short ciliated membrane; sheath glabrous to finely hairy.
* Inflorescence composed of (1-) 2-6 digitate ascending racemes. Racemes 3-18 cm long, clothed in long silvery or purplish hairs spreading conspicuously outwards; rachis broadly winged with sharp-edged midrib. Spikelets in threes or 3-4 in the cluster.
* Spikelets ovate, acuminate, 2-3 mm long, with hairs extending 2-4 mm beyond the apex. Lower glume oblate, clasping, 0.3-0.4 mm long, truncate; upper glume lanceolate, acute, 0.8-1 length of the spikelet, 3 -veined, villous. Lower lemma elliptic, acute, as long as spikelet, 5-7 -veined with 2 longitudinal grooves, villous, glabrous on mid nerve and villous on margin bearing white or purple hairs; upper lemma elliptic, rostrate, gibbous, 2-3 mm long, cartilaginous, yellow or light brown, keeled, margins flat, covering most of palea.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon and Burundi, E and southern Africa.