Kew Bull. 1934: 429 (1934).- Type: Rehmann 4730, South Africa, Pretoria (syn- K0; Nelson 75, South Africa, Magaliesberg Mts (syn- K).
Trichopteryx flavida Stapf, Kew Bull. 1934: 429 (1934);
Trichopteryx acuminata Stapf, Kew Bull. 1897: 297 (1897).- Type: Barter 953, Nigeria, Nupe (holo- K);
Trichopteryx nigritana Stapf, Barter s.n., Nigeria, Ieba on Kwora (holo- K);
Loudetia acuminata (Stapf) CE Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1934: 298 (1934).
Regional litterature: FTA 10: 34 (1937); FWTA: 417 (1972); Ghana grasses: 178, fig. 55 (1977); Gram. Togo: 235 (1983); Gram. Cameroun: 374, fig. 80 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 286, fig (1995); Fl. Bénin: 215 (2006); Pl. Burkina Faso: 95 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 136 (2015).
Description:
* Coarse simple densely tufted erect perennial bunchgrass up to 1.5 m high. Culms stout with fine short hairy fuzz on the nodes. Leaves narrowly linear, usually more or less tightly rolled inwards, 15-40 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, finely hairy on both surfaces, especially towards the base, with sharply scabrid margins; base narrow passing into the sheath; ligule inconspicuous vestigial membrane; sheath finely hairy, the basal ones neither densely hairy nor splitting into fibers. Roots stout, coarse.
* Inflorescence a linear to lanceolate, dense, well branched golden-brown panicle 10-30 cm long bearing juvenile spikelets at emergence. Branches glabrous, pubescent or villous (rarely). Pedicels glabrous to villous, 1.5-3 mm long.
* Spikelets lanceolate or oblong, 6-15 mm long; callus elongated, 0.5-0.7 mm long, pubescent, truncate. Glumes persistent chartaceous, dark brown, acuminate dissimilar; lower glume ovate, 3-6 mm long, glabrous or with tubercle-based hairs; upper glume lanceolate, glabrous. Lower lemma similar to upper glume 6-12 mm long, acuminate; upper lemma oblong, 4-5 mm long, coriaceous, pubescent, tip 2-fid with triangular lobes and a geniculate awn of 15-40 mm long from the sinus, column twisted. Anthers 3.
Distribution West Africa: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Congo, DRC, Ethiopia, E and southern Africa.