Syn. Pl. 1: 85 (1805).- Type: J.G. Koenig s.n., India (holo- LO, iso- K).
Paspalum longiflorum Retz., Obs. Bot. 4: 15 (1786).
Regional litterature: FI. Agr. Congo Belge 2: 46 (1934); FI. Gabon 5: 50 (1962); FWTA: 453 (1972); Ghana grasses: 137 (1977); FTEA : 634 (1982); Gram. Togo: 197, fig. (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 449 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 317, fig. 67 (1992); Poac. CI: 436, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 249, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 301 (1998); Fl. Bénin: 199 (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 165 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 136 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 456 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 81 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 126 (2015);
Description:
* Annual or short-lived perennial, prostrate, stoloniferous creeping or straggling rooting and branching at the nodes. Culms geniculate ascending or erect, slender, weak, to 0,5 m high. Leaves lanceolate, 1-9 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, flat and glabrous or hirsute with scabrid margins, base barely rounded; ligule small but distinct glabrous membrane de 0.8 mm long; sheath compressed and keeled with a few hairs at the base.
* Inflorescence composed of 2-4 digitate racemes. Racemes 5-10 cm long; rhachis broadly winged with rounded midrib. Spikelets in threes, pedicels unequal.
* Spikelets elliptic, 1.2-1.8 mm long. Lower glume absent or obscure; upper glume elliptic, acute as long as spikelet, 5-veined, pubescent, with short verruculose hairs. Lower lemma elliptic, acute, as long as spikelet, 7-veined, pubescent with short verruculose hairs on the veins; upper lemma elliptic, acute, 1.2-1.8 mm long, cartilaginous, pallid, grey or light brown.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon and C, NE, E and southern Africa, Asia; introduced in C America.