Mem. Acad. Sei. Petersb. ser. 6,1: 397 (1830).- Type: Koenig s.n., India (holo LD).
Poa viscosa Retz., Obs. Bot. 4: 20 (1786).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 386 (1972); FTEA Gramineae: 206 (1974); Gram. Cameroun: 114, fig. 25 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 113 (1995); Fl Zambesiaca 10,2: 70 (1999); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Sticky, tufted annual of 20-60 cm high. Culms erect or ascending, branched at the lower nodes and glandular below the nodes. Leaves flat, 3-15 cm long and 3-5 mm wide, pilose on the underside and sticky along the keel ; ligule a dense line of hairs ; sheaths pilose, sticky on the keels, margins and around the collar.
* Inflorescence an ovate to narrowly oblong panicle of 5-20 cm long and 1-2.5 cm wide with yellow glandular patches on the axis and branchlets on which sand particles stick.
* Spikelets elliptic-oblong, 5-15 flowered, 1.5-4.5 mm long, disarticulating below each floret. Glumes broadly oblong, 0.6-1.2 mm long, with a thickened yellow glandular keel. Lemmas oblong, 0.7-1.4 mm long, membranous ; palea-keels pectinate-ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.1-0.5 mm long. Anthers 3, 0.2 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid, 0.5-0.7 mm long, glossy.
Distribution West Africa: Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, DRC and NE, E and southern Africa, Asia; introduced in the Americas.