Kew Bull. 20: 75 (1966).- Type: Drège s.n. South Africa (iso- L,MO); Drège 4314, South Africa (iso- P).
var. catangensis (Chiov.) W.D.Clayton.
Kew Bull. 20: 75 (1966).- Type: Bovone 19, DRC (holo- TO).
Andropogon amplectens Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr. 104 (1841);
Cymbachne amplectens (Nees) Roberty, Boissiera 9 : 242 (1960);
Andropogon diversifolius Rendle, Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. 2:148 (1899);
Andropogon amplectens var. catangensis Chiov., Ann. Bot. Roma 13: 38 (1914);
Andropogon amplectens var. diversifolius (Rendle) Stapf, Fl. Trop. Afr. 9: 244 (1919).
Regional litterature: FI. Nigeria: 90 (1970); FWTA: 489 (1972); Ghana grasses: 138, fig, 30 (1977); FTEA: 784 (1982); Fl. Mauritania: 416 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 468 (1992); Poac. CI: 582, fig. (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 309 (1998); Poac. Niger : 598, fig. (1999); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 136 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 456 (2009); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 92, fig (2002); Fl. Bénin: 200, fig. (2006); Pl. Burkina Faso: 81 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 127 (2015)
Description:
*Erect perennial bunchgrass of 1-2 m high. Culms coarse, often woody, the lower internodes bright curry-yellow like the numerous short scaly rhizomes which tend to form a dense clump at the base. Leaves cauline and basal, linear to linear lanceolate, 15-30 cm long and 7-25 mm wide, flat, usually glabrous but occasionally densely hairy all over, pale midrib, base culm-clasping, broadly rounded or simple, sharp scabrid margins; sheath usually glabrous; ligule a short rounded ciliate membrane of 1-1.5 mm. Roots coarse and stout.
* Inflorescence a compound false panicle composed of terminal and axillary paired racemes. Racemes silvery, slender, 4-9 cm long with a pair of homogamous spikelets at the base of the lower raceme; rhachis fragile, internodes 5 mm, linear, subtended by a spatheole; bases filiform. Spatheoles lanceolate, herbaceous, 7-8 cm long. Pedicels linear, ciliate.
* Sessile spikelet linear, 5-7 mm long; callus linear, 1-2 mm long, pilose, base pungent. Lower glume lanceolate, coriaceous with a longitudinal median groove or deeply depressed, rounded edges with 4-7 nerves; upper glume 3-veined, margins ciliate. Lower lemma barren, hyaline, ciliate on the margins; upper lemma hyaline, incised for 1/3 with from the sinus a bigeniculate pubescent awn of 2.5-7 cm long, its column twisted. Pedicelled spikelets lanceolate, 9-13 mm long, not winged, with an awn of 1-8 mm.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Congo, DRC, Ethiopia, and E and southern Africa.