FPS 3: 399 (1956).- Type: Schimper 1117, Ethiopia (isosyn- K); Quartin Dillon s.n., Ethiopia (syn- P)
Andropogon prionodes Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum.1: 383 (1854) based on A. serrulatus;
Andropogon serrulatus A. Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 458 (1851) non Link (1827) illig.;
Arthraxon lanceolatus (Roxb.) Hochst. var. serrulatus (Hochst.) Th. Dur. & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 704 (1894);
Arthraxon serrulatus Hochst., Flora 39: 188 (1856);
Regional litterature: FTA 9: 163 (1917); FTEA: 741 (1982); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 120 (2015)
Description:
* Mat-forming perennial, loosely tufted with a knotty, silky villous base of up to 0.8 m high. Culms stiff and brittle, often straggling. Leaves narrowly ovate, tough, 3-6 cm long and 0.5 – 2 cm wide, glabrous to pubescent, base cordate, tip setaceously acuminate, margins cartilaginous, pectinate-setose.
* Inflorescence in 3-11 terminal racemes. Racemes 5-8 cm long, erect; internodes and pedicels ciliate to pilose, the hairs increasing to 2-3 mm long around the tip; internode filiform.
* Sessile spikelets linear, 5.5-7 mm long. Lower glume chartaceous, strongly convex with inflexed margins, pectinate spinose on the keels, often muricate on the back, sometimes pubescent. Upper lemma with an awn of 10-13 mm long. Anthers 3. Pedicelled spikelet mnarrowly lanceolate, male, 4-5.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda and NE, E Africa, West and southern Asia.