FTA 9: 368 (1919).- Type: Schweinfurth, 2602, Sudan (syn- P, isosyn K), 2694, Sudan (syn- P, isosyn- K).
Andropogon diplandrus Hackel, Flora 68: 123 (1855);
Andropogon obscurus K. Schum., Bot. Jahrb. 24: 330 (1897).- Type: Zenker 544, Cameroon, (iso- K);
Hyparrhenia mutica W.D.Clayton, Kew Bull., add. Ser. 2: 161 (1969).- Type: Adames 746, Liberia (holo- K);
Hyparrhenia diplandra var. mutica (Clayton) Cope, Flora Zambesiaca, 10.4 (2002).
Regional litterature: Fl. Nigeria: 96 (1970); FWTA: 491 (1972); FTEA: 818; Gram. Togo: 231 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 460, fig (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 495 (1992); Poac. CI: 606, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 349, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 309 (1998); Poac. Niger: 609, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca: 131 (2002); Fl. Guinée: 462 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 91 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 133 (2015).
Description:
* Large tufted perennial, 1.5-3 m high; sometimes in mountainous areas base inflated and fibrous. Culms erect robust. Leaves cauline, 20-60 cm long and 3-10 mm wide, glaucous; surface glabrous or hirsute, sparsely hairy, sometimes wooly pubescent, margins scabrous; sheaths glabrous or pilose, oral hairs bearded wit grey hairs; ligule an eciliate or slightly ciliate membrane of 1.5-2 mm long.
* Inflorescence a compound panicle, 20-40 cm long, composed of terminal and axillary paired racemes; subtended by a spatheole. Spatheole lanceolate, 2.5-4.5 cm long, membranous, brown or red, glabrous; peduncle 0.3-1.5 cm long, glabrous or hirsute above. Racemes paired, deflexed, 1.5-2.5 cm long, bearing (1-) 2-3(- 5) fertile spikelets on each; rhachis fragile, ciliate on margins; raceme-bases flattened, sub equal, 1-2 mm long, pubescent. Two pairs of homogamous spikelets on both racemes, forming an involucre.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate, 6-8 mm long; callus cuneate, 1.5 mm long, pubescent, acute, green to dark russet. Lower glume lanceolate, coriaceous, glabrous or pubescent; upper glume linear, coriaceous. Lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline; upper lemma linear, the apex dentate with a geniculate awn of 2-6 cm long from the sinus; column twisted, pubescent with 0.2-0.5 mm long hairs, sometimes awns absent ( ‘mutica’). Pedicelled spikelets lanceolate, 5-7.5 mm long; glumes scabrid on the margins, chartaceous, acute, terminal bristle 0-5 mm long. Homogamous spikelets 7-9 mm long, scabrid to ciliate on the margins.
Note: the form mutica may be an ecological variety of swamps and along streams.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda, E and southern Africa, Asia.