Syst. Veg. 2: 401 (1817).- Type: Lichtenstein s.n., South Africa (syn- HAL).
Aristida tunetana Coss., Fl. Algérie, Monocot. 157 (1895).
Regional litterature: Fl. Sahara: 169 (1977); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 84, fig. (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 119 (2015).
Description:
* Densely tufted perennial of up to 75 cm high. Culms erect or ascending. Leaves linear, folded or convolute, up to 20 cm long; sheaths prominently silky hairy on the auricles with spreading hairs 2-3 mm long.
* Inflorescence in a linear-oblong panicle, densely contracted, spiciform or interrupted at the base, 3-20 cm long.
* Spikelets 7-10 mm long, with a narrowly oblong, finely obtuse callus of 1 mm long, finely barbed. Glumes unequal, with an awnpoint of 2 mm long; lower glume lanceolate, 4-5 mm long, acute; upper linear, 6.5-10 mm long, emarginated to bifid. Lemma terete, linear-elliptic, 3-5 mm long, asperulous upwards, passing into a twisted awn column of 2-4 mm long, branches articulated at the top of the column, equal, 1,2-3 cm long.