Kew Bull., 21: 123 (1967).- Type: Scaetta 2303 (2303), Mali (holo- P).
Tristachya scaëttae A. Camus in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr., 85: 336 (1967).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 415 (1972); Ghana grasses: 184 (1977); Gram. Togo: 252 (983); Fl. Bénin: 217 (2006); Poac. CI: 228, fig. (1995); Fl. Guinée: 466 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 97 (2012).
Description:
* Simple erect perennial bunchgrass in small tufts, 1.2-2 m high; dark remains of leaves at the basis. Leaves long narrow linear 50 cm long and 3 mm wide, often rolled inwards, glabrous or sparsely hairy, with smooth or slightly scabrid margins; base white wooly, narrowed and passing directly into the sheath; ligule a line of short white hairs and longer hairs of 5 mm long; sheath glabrous to densely hairy below the bearded node. Roots coarse and well developed.
* Inflorescence a narrow to open panicle 8-22 cm long and 2.5-5 cm broad, bearing numerous triads of spikelets which with branches and peduncles 2 mm long are usually covered with stiff golden hairs of 1.5-2 mm long based on black tubercles. Pedicels sub equal, 1-2 mm long, glabrous.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 9-13 mm long brown. with sparse long tubercle-based hairs,; callus 0.7 mm long pubescent, with two equal teeth of 0.2 mm. Glumes chartaceous, hairy on veins (sparsely) with tubercle-based hairs; lower glume ovate, 4-5 mm long; upper glume acute, 8-10 mm long. Lower lemma lanceolate, chartaceous, 8-10 mm; upper lemma brown, with short white hairs, 4-5 mm long with a 2 -fid tip and a long geniculate awn up to 7 cm from the sinus, the upper part green, the lower part dark brown.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria.