Rev. Int. Bot. Appl. Agric. Trop. 30: 170, f. 11-2 (1950).- Type: Pobéguin 1810, Guinea (iso- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 498 (1972); Poac. CI: 618, fig. (1985); Fl. Guinée: 458 (2009).
Description: Annual up to 2 m high. Culms erect, 2-5 mm diam. Leaves tapering towards sheath, 20-40 cm long and 4-8 mm wide, dark green, scabrous; ligule an eciliate membrane of 2-3 mm long, scarious, truncate; oral hairs bearded.
* Inflorescence a loose compound panicle of 25-35 cm long, composed of terminal and axillary paired racemes, subtended by a spatheole; spatheole linear, 8-12 cm long. Racemes 3.5-5 cm long bearing 1-3 fertile spikelets; rhachis fragile with filiform internodes; bases filiform, 4 mm long, fulvously hairy in axils; 3-5 awns per pair. Homogamous spikelets in each raceme 14-20.
* Sessile spikelets elliptic, 9-10 mm long; callus linear, 2-3 mm long, pungent, hairs white. Lower glume elliptic, chartaceous, dark brown, pilose; upper glume with an awn 10-25 mm long. Upper lemma with geniculate awn of 6.5-10 cm with twisted column. Pedicelled spikelets lanceolate, olive green, 8-10 mm long; callus oblong, 1 mm long. Homogamous spikelets 7-9 mm long, pilose.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast