FTA 9: 462 (1919).- Type: Lecard 252, Mali (holo- P, iso- BR,K).
Panicum leptorhachis Pilger in Engl., Bot. Jahrb. 30: 119 (1901);
Panicum nigritianum Hack., Bot. Zeitschr. 51: 293 (viii 1901).- Type: Barter 27, Nigeria (iso- K);
Digitaria chevalieri Stapf, FTA 9: 458 (1919).- Type Chevalier 629, Mali (P, holo);
Digitaria polybothria Stapf, FTA 9: 462 (1919).- Type: Vanderyst 3890, DRC (syn- BR,K,WAG) ; Vanderyst 3919, DRC, Stanleypool (syn- K);
Digitaria nigritianum (Hack.) Stapf, FTA 9: 463 (1919).- Type: Barter 27, Nigeria, Brass river (holo- W , iso- K);
Digitaria richardsonii Mez, E.J. 57: 193 (1921).- Type: Richardson, Nigeria (iso- K).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 454 (1972); Ghana grasses: 137 (1977); FTEA : 623 (1982); Gram. Togo: 197 (1983); Gram. Cameroun: 327, fig. 68 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 199 (2006); Poac. CI: 444, fig. (1995); Pl. Burkina Faso: 81 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 126 (2015).
Description:
* Annual or short-lived perennial, straggling creeping or usually decumbent base, rooting and branching at the lower nodes, with erect or ascending branched yellow culms to 0.9 m. Leaves with a slightly narrowed base, flat, 5-20 cm long; 2-6 mm wide, sparsely or densely covered on both surfaces with white short hairs, distinct midrib, margins hairy; ligule a small pale glabrous membrane; sheath slightly compressed, densely covered in white hairs.
* Inflorescence delicate open with up to 5-12(-17), fairly long, slender racemes of 4-12 cm long attached to a common axis of up to 10 cm; rachis wingless, angular, glabrous on surface or with scattered hairs. Spikelets in pairs; pedicels unequal.
* Spikelets elliptic, 1.4-2 mm long, narrow pointed glabrous or minutely hairy. Lower glume obscure; upper glume elliptic, acute, as long as spikelet, 5 -veined, puberulous. Lower lemma elliptic, acute, as long as spikelet, 7 -veined, hairy between veins; upper lemma elliptic, acute, 1.4-2 mm long, cartilaginous, thinner on margins, grey, covering most of palea.
Distribution West Africa: Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: DRC, Congo, Gabon and Tanzania, Zambia.
Note: Decumbent or ascending annual or short-lived perennial with aerial roots, racemes bare at the base with traces of arrested spikelets and often with scattered hairs.