in Engl., Bot. Jahrb. 77: 289 (1957).- Type: Kersting 261, Togo (holo- B).
Trichopteryx kerstingii Pilger in Engl., Bot. Jahrb., 34: 128 (1904) ;
Tristachya kerstingii (Pilger) CE. Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1934: 435 (1934);
Loudetiopsis glabrinodis (CE Hubbard) Conert (Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 77: 288 (1957).- Type: Hinds 3853, Ghana, Lawra (holo- K, iso- B).
Regional litterature: FTA 10: 57 (1937); Fl. Nig.: 25 (1970); FWTA: 415 (1972); Ghana grasses: 182 (1977); Fl. Bénin: 250 (2006); Gram. Cameroun: 380, fig. 83 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 217, fig. (2006); Poac. CI: 226, fig. (1995) ; Pl. Burkina Faso: 96 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Erect annual, 0.6-1 m high, solitary or in small tufts. Culms slender, weak, geniculately ascending or decumbent, the nodes often bearing a cupped beard of stiff golden hairs. Leaves long narrow linear, 10-20 cm long and 1.5-2.5 mm wide, usually tightly rolled, filiform and glabrous; base hairy, passing straight into the sheath; ligule a fringe of minute white hairs; sheath glabrous. Roots a fine fibrous mat.
* Inflorescence in erect golden panicles open or contracted 5-12 cm long. Branches ascending, peduncles straight or stiffly flexuous, bearing triads of spikelets surmounted by fine stiff hairs, shining like polished brass. Pedicels sub equal, 2-3 mm long, setose.
* Spikelets lanceolate 14-17 mm long, usually dotted with yellow hairs on dark tubercles; callus 1.3 mm long, bearded, 2-toothed. Glumes chartaceous, hairy on veins with yellow hairs on dark brown tubercles; lower glume lanceolate, 9-10 mm long, obtuse; upper glume oblong, 14-17 mm long, truncate. Lower lemma similar to upper glume, lanceolate, 9-11 mm long; upper lemma elliptic, 5-6 mm long, coriaceous, pubescent, 2 -fid with lanceolate lobes and geniculate awn of 7-12 cm long from the sinus.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Gambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR.