Observ. Bot. 6: 35 (1791).- Type:
Ischaemum imbricatum (Munro ex Hack.) Stapf ex Ridley (1925).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 476 (1972).
Description:
* Perennial of 0.6-1.2 m high. Culms erect or ascending. Leaves 10-20 cm long and 5-10 mm wide; ligule a membrane of 2-3.5 mm long.
* Inflorescence in paired racemes, appressed back to back. Racemes 5-7 cm long, fragile; rhachis angular, ciliate on margins; internodes columnar, 4.5 mm long, forming a V or U shape with pedicel. Pedicels columnar, 1-2 mm long, ciliate.
* Sessile spikelets oblong, 5.5-7 mm long; callus square, glabrous. Lower glume oblong, asymmetrical, 2-keeled, narrowly winged, muricate, acute; upper glume 1-keeled, acuminate. Upper lemma oblong, membranous with a geniculate awn of 10-15 mm long from the sinus of the bilobed tip; column glabrous. Pedicelled spikelets well developed, sterile or male, 6 mm long, muticous; glumes winged on the keel.
Distribution West Africa: Introduced in Nigeria and Cameroon.
Distribution world-wide: Asia.