Kew Bull. 1934: 109 (1934).- Type: Poiret s.n., Algeria (holo- P).
Rottboellia altissima Poir., Voy. Barb. 2: 105 (1789);
Rottboellia fasciculata Lam., Tab. Encycl. Méth. Bot. 1: 204 (1791), nom. superfl, based on R. altissima;
Hemarthria fasciculata (Lam.) Kunth, Rev. gram. 1: 153 (1829).
Regional litterature: FTA 9: 55 (1910); FI. Nigeria: 93 (1970); FWTA: 506 (1972); FTEA: 851 (1982); Gram. Cameroun: 524 (1992); Poac. CI: 662, fig. (1985); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 363, fig (1995); Poac. Niger : 648, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 166 (1999); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 132 (2015).
Description:
* Perennial, ascending from a creeping base and rooting at the nodes, up to 1.5 m high. Leaves slightly amplexicaul, 10-20 cm long; ligule a short ciliate membrane; sheaths swollen, the upper ones embracing the racemes.
* Inflorescence 1-3 racemes together in the sheaths of the upper leaves. Racemes spiciform, 4-12 cm long and 2-3 mm wide, greenish of brownish; internodes and pedicels fused together, 5-6 mm long.
* Sessile spikelets elliptical-oblong, 5-7 mm long; callus triangular, 1 mm long. Lower glume coriaceous, acuminate, keeled at the margins, glabrous; upper glume oblong, acute. Lower glume hyaline, muticous; upper glume oblong, hyaline, shorter than the glumes. Caryopse oblong, 2 mm long, reddish. Pedicelled spikelets 5-6 mm long, lanceolate, acuminate with a long tail.
Distribution West Africa: Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, RCA, Chad, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Algeria, Morocco, Tunesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, southern Africa, southern Europe, Asia; introduced in the Americas.