Boissiera 9: 107(1960).- Type: Dybowski 585, CAR (holo- P).
Andropogon dybowskii Franch., Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun 8: 344 (1895);
Cymbopogon princeps Stapf, Mém. Soc. Bot. Fr. 8: 104 (1908);
Andropogon seretii De Wild., Études Fl. Bas Moyen Congo 3: 152 , fig. (1910);
Dybowskia dybowskii (Franch.) Dandy, Journ. Bot. 69: 54(1931).
Regional litterature: Kew Bull., Add. Series II, 157 (1969).
Description: Stout annual 1-2.5 m high. Culms erect, robust, bearded at the nodes or not. Leaves 25-35 cm long and 6-12 mm wide, glabrous to sparsely hirsute; ligule an eciliate membrane of 1-4 mm long; sheaths glabrous except for the ciliate margins.
* Inflorescence a spathate panicle of 0.3 m long, with 3-4 nodes and 10-20 raceme pairs clustered about the axis, slightly shiny. Spatheoles 5-9 cm long and 15 mm wide, cymbiformous, green, glabrous or sometimes hirsute at the base; peduncles linear, 0.5-4 cm long, glabrous or sparsely pilose upwards. Racemes 2.5-3.5 cm long, 2 awned per pair; bases subequal, the upper 1-1.5 mm long. Two pairs of homogamous at the base of each raceme. Pedicels of the terminal triade 7 mm long.
* Sessile spikelets linear-oblong, 16-20 mm long, straw-coloured, glabrous to shortly villous; callus 6 mm long, pungent. Lower glume lanceolate, coriaceous, yellow, glabrous to villous at the base, keeled towards the brownish bifid tip. Lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline; upper lemma linear, membranous with a geniculate awn of 12-19 cm long, the column very shortly and densely pubescent with golden hairs. Pedicelled spikelets 15-19 mm, glumes chartaceous, terminating in a short bristle 2-5 mm long. Homogamous spikelet 1.5-2.5 cm long, scabrid along the margins above.
Distribution West Africa: Chad, CAR.
Distribution worldwide: DRC, C Africa.