Kew Bull. 33: 175-179 (1978).- Type: Jardin s.n., Gabon (holo- P).
Jardinea gabonensis Steud.: Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 360 (1854);
Jardinea congoensis (Hack.) Franch., Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun 8: 321 (1895).- Type: Thollon 58, Congo (holo- W, iso- K);
Rhytachne congoensis Hack. in DC., Monogr. Phan. 6: 277 (1889);
Phacelurus congoensis (Hack.) Zon, Gram. Cameroun 557, fig.113 (1992).
Regional litterature: Stapf, FTA 9: 53 (1917); Fl. Agr. Congo Beige 1: 55, fig. 1 (1929); Fl. Gabon 5:125 (1962); FWTA: 504 (1972); Ghana grasses: 172, fig. 50 (1977); Gram. Togo: 239 (1983); Poac. CI: 644, fig. (1985); Fl. Bénin: (1992); Poac. Niger: 6, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 160, fig (2002); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 143 (2015).
Description:
* Coarse rhizomatous branched caespitose perennial bunchgrass, 2-3 m high. Culms erect, coarse and cane-like; nodes bearded with very short hairs, especially when young. Leaves long linear, flat and glabrous, 15-40 cm long and 3-10 mm wide with a broad whitish midrib and sharply scabrid margins, base narrowed, sparsely hairy; ligule a membranous often hair-fringed rim; sheath glabrous above but the base of the lowest ones densely hairy. Roots robust, coarse.
* Inflorescence large purplish, spreading and terminal consisting of numerous (up to 30 cm) slender fasciculate racemes on a short common axis of 6-15 cm long. Racemes 5-25 cm long; rachis angular, glabrous on surface, scabrous on margins; internodes cuneate. Pedicels linear, angular, scabrous.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate, 4-7 mm long; callus truncate, pubescent. Lower glume lanceolate, coriaceous, muricate on the keels and sometimes the back, purple, 2-keeled, flat; upper glume lanceolate, chartaceous. Lower lemma hyaline, ciliolate on margins; upper lemma lanceolate, muticous. Pedicelled spikelets similar to the sessile spikelet, with 2 sub equal glumes, coriaceous, muticous or mucronate.
Distribution West Africa: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: DRC, Congo, Gabon, Angola, Zambia.