Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 43: 89 (1930).- Type: Hagerup 401, Niger, Bura (holo- US, iso- K).
Heteropogon hagerupii (Hitchc.) Roberty, Boissiera 9: 137(1960).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 489 (1972); Ghana grasses: 138 (1977); Fl. Mauritania: 416(1991); Gram. Cameroun: 466, fig. 103 (1992); Poac. CI: 584, fig. (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 309 (1998); Poac. Niger: 599, fig. (1999); Fl. Bénin: 200 (2006); Fl. Guinée: 456 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 82 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Erect annual bunchgrass, 0.5-1.8 m high. Culms yellow, lower internodes sometimes bright curry-yellow under the sheaths; occasionally prop-roots. Leaves linear to linear lanceolate, 10-25 cm long and 1 -5 cm wide, glabrous with a thin pale midrib and scabrid margins tending to roll outwards; base broad cordate, culm-clasping; ligule a short membrane of 0.6 mm long; sheath glabrous. Roots sparse, sometimes yellow.
* Inflorescence a false panicle with numerous flowering branches from the upper culm bearing paired spathate terminal and axillary racemes. Racemes paired, 2-6 cm long; rachis fragile, internodes linear; bases linear, the longest 7 mm. Pedicels linear, ciliate. One pair of homogamous at the base of the lower raceme, none in upper raceme.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate, dorsally compressed, 6-9 mm long; callus cuneate, 1-3 mm long, pilose, base pungent. Lower glume lanceolate, coriaceous, keeled obtusely with a longitudinal median groove or deeply depressed; upper glume lanceolate, pubescent. Upper lemma oblong, 4.5 mm long, membranous, incised 0.25 of lemma length with a bigeniculate awn from a sinus, 4-10 cm with twisted ciliate column. Pedicelled spikelets 9-13 mm long, with a short awn of up to 1 mm.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad.