in Hook., Ic. Pl. 37, t. 3644 (1967).
Andropogon pteropholis var. togoensis H.Scholz, Willdenowia 10: 157 (1980).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 488 (1972); Ghana grasses: 95 (1977); Gram. Togo: 146 (1983); Pl. Burkina Faso: 69 (2012).
Description:
* Perennial erect bunchgrass, 1.5-2.1 m high. Culms yellow to purple tinged, weak, sometimes with prop roots at the lower nodes. Leaves narrow linear, 15-25 cm long and 2-8 mm wide with a false petiole, hairy on both sides; ligule a distinct eciliate membrane; sheath glabrous.
* Inflorescence a compound spathate panicle on upper culms with numerous flowering branches, 30-40 cm long, composed of terminal paired racemes, subtended by a spatheole. Spatheole 7-8 cm long, reddish. Racemes 4-6.5 cm long; rachis fragile, ciliate on margins; internodes clavate, 8 mm long. Pedicels cuneate, ciliate; tip bi-lobed.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate, dorsally compressed, acuminate, 11-12 mm long; callus oblong, 2 mm long, pilose, obtuse. Lower glume lanceolate, coriaceous and hairy, keeled laterally, flat and with a longitudinal median groove, 2 -awned, awns 1-3 mm long; upper glume lanceolate, chartaceous, awn 6 mm long. Lemmas lanceolate, hyaline, the lower 9 mm long, the upper 7 mm long, incised 1/2 of length with a geniculate awn of 30-40 mm long from a sinus; column twisted glabrous. Pedicelled spikelets lanceolate, dorsally compressed, 8-10 mm long; glumes chartaceous, acute; both glumes with a 6-13 mm long awn.