J.Bot. (Morot) 19: 98 (1905).- Pobeguin 1764, Kouroussa, Guinea (iso- K); Pobeguin 494, Kouroussa, Guinea (holo- K, iso- P).
Rhytachne minor Pilg., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 54: 280 (1917).- Type: Brown 71, Liberia, freetown (holo- B).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 511 (1972); Gram. Cameroun: 528 (1992); Poac. CI: 676, fig. (1995); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 173 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 141 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 473 (2009).
Description:
* Tufted annual of 0.3-0.6 m high. Culms slender, weak. Leaves filiform, involute, 5-8 cm long and 1-3 mm wide, glabrous with scabrid margins; ligule a truncate, ciliate membrane; sheaths glabrous.
* Inflorescence with terminal, solitary, spiciformous, fragile racemes of 5-10 cm long, excerted from the spathes. Rhachis fragile; internodes filiformous, 2-3 mm long. Spikelets in pairs; pedicelled spikelets reduced to an awn of 3-5 mm long. Pedicels linear, compressed, 2-3 mm long.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 3-3.5 mm long; callus pubescent, truncate with a central peg. Lower glume oblong, chartaceous, muricate or rugose with winged margins and 2 awns of 3-5 mm long; upper glume lanceolate, membranous, acute with an awn of 3-4 mm long. Lower lemma lanceolate, 2 mm long, hyaline; upper lemma lanceolate,1.5 mm long, hyaline, acute. Pedicelled spikelet rudimentary, represented by a pedicel extended into a filiformous scabrid subule of 3-5 mm.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin and Cameroon.