Ess. Agrost. 165, 166 (1812).- Type: Hb. Linn. 96-2, Europe (holo- LINN).
Lagurus cylindricus Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 10,2: 878 (1759);
Saccharum thunbergii Retz., Obs. Bot. 5:16 (1789);
Imperata arundinacea Cyr. var. africana Anderss., Ofv. Svensk. Vet. Akad. Förh. 12: 159 (1855);
Imperata cylindrica var. thunbergii (Retz.) Dur. & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 693 (1894);
Imperata cylindrica var. africana (Anderss.) C.E.Hubbard, Imp. Agric. Bur., Joint Publ. 7: 10 (1944).
Regional litterature: Stapf, FTA 9:87 (1917); FI. Gabon 5:139 (1962); FWTA: 464, fig. 448 (1972); Ghana grasses: 168, fig. 47 (1977); Fl. Sahara: 152 (1977); FTEA: 702, fig 159 (1982); Gram. Togo: 235, fig. (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 424, fig (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 389, fig. 86 (1992); Poac. CI: 472, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 292, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 304 (1998); Poac. Niger : 502, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca: 10, fig. (2002); Fl. Bénin: 212, fig. (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 138 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 463 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 93 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 135 (2015).
Description:
* Simple erect perennial bunchgrass of 0.2-1.2 m high, spreading rapidly by means of vigorous branched, elongated, scaly rhizomes. Culms simple, slender. Leaves stiffly erect, sharply pointed and sword-like rising mostly from ground-level, long linear to linear-lanceolate, glaucous and glabrous, 3-100 cm long and 2-20 mm wide, with sharply scabrid margins; base narrow, usually petiolate, passing directly into sheath; ligule an short ciliolate membrane; sheath tightly wrapped, usually glabrous, the basal ones splitting and accumulating into a fibrous mass that resists burning.
* Inflorescence a dense silvery-hairy terminal spiciform panicle of 3-15 cm long. Primary branches accrescent to the central axis with racemes, sometimes the lowermost loose. Racemes bearing few fertile spikelets; rachis tough; internodes filiform. Spikelets in pairs; fertile spikelets pedicelled. Pedicels filiform, unequal.
* Spikelets lanceolate, subterete, 2.2-6 mm long; callus bearded, base truncate; callus hairs white; 2-3 as long as spikelet. Glumes similar; lower glume oblong, membranous, villous, hairy below, obtuse; upper glume oblong, 2.2-6 mm long, membranous, villous, hairy below. Lower lemma similar to upper lemma, oblong, half as long as spikelet, hyaline, ciliolate on margins; upper lemma ovate, 1 mm long, hyaline, acute.
Note: Sometimes three varieties are recognized, but there is much integration between them and individual specimens are often uinidentifiable. In Africa var. africana with flat leaves and spikes 3-5.7 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast Burkina, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad.
Distribution world-wide: Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya, Congo, DRC, Uganda; C, NE, E and southern Africa, Europe, W Asia; introduced in E Asia, N America.