Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1918: 62 (1918).- Type: Bruce, cult. at Florence (holo- FT).
Poa tef Zuccagni, Diss. Ditef: s.n. (1775).
Regional litterature: Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 125 (1995); Fl. Zambesiaca: 106 (1999); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 130 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted annual of 0.3-.0(-2.0) m high. Culms erect. Leaves flat, 2-5 mm wide.
* Inflorescence a narrowly elliptic and contracted panicle to diffuse and ovate panicle of 0.1-0.6 cm long; branches loosely ascending, flexuous, the lowermost branches often whorled, the axis bearded or not. Spikelets borne on long, filiform pedicels.
* Spikelets narrowly oblong, 4-9 mm long and 1.5-3 mm wide, 4-12-flowered with the florets contiguous, mostly remaining entire and maturity and retaining the the grain, but some lemmas and paleas falling tardily from the tough rhachilla. Glumes unequal, lanceolate, acuminate, the lower 1-3 mm long, the upper 1.5-3 mm long. Lemmas narrowly lanceolate-oblong in profile, 2-3 mm long, the nerves prominent, scaberulous on the keel and towards the acute tip. Anthers 3, 0.3-0.5 mm long. Caryopsis turgid, broadly ellipsoid, 1-1.2 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan; introduced in Mauritania and Senegal.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC and NE and E Africa.