Tab. Encycl. 1: 157 (1791).- Type: Roussillon s.n., Senegal (holo- P).
Chaetaria lamarckii Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. Ed. Nov. 2: 393 (1817);
Aristida amplissima Trin. & Rupr., Sp. Gram. Strip: 155 (1842).
Regional litterature: Stanfield, FI. Nigeria: 29 (1970); FTEA: 153 (1970); FWTA: 379 (1972; Gram. Togo: 154 (1983); Gram. Cameroun: 100, fig. 21 (1992); Pl. Mauritanie: 280 (1998); Poaceae Niger: 161, fig. (1999); Fl. Guinëe: 451 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 72 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 119 (2015).
Description:
* Caespitose annual of 0.9-1.5 m high. Culms with internodes distally glabrous. Leaves flat or involute, 15-30 cm long and 2-4 mm wide; ligule a fringe of hairs; oral hairs woolly.
* Inflorescence an open, elliptic, often nodding panicle of 20-50 cm long. Spikelets solitary, pedicelled.
* Spikelets lanceolate, subterete, pallid or purplish, 14-20 mm long; callus elongated, 1.5-2 mm long, pilose and 2-toothed. Glumes lanceolate, membranous, obtuse; lower glume 5-7 mm long; upper glume 14-20 mm long. Lemma elliptic, subterete, 7-9 mm long, coriaceous, convolute, acute, with a 3-branched awn; awn with twisted deciduous column of 15-30 mm long, abscissing from top of lemma, principal branch 35-60 mm long and lateral ones 30-50 mm long.