Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 820 (1894).- Type: Leprieur s.n., Senegal (syn- LE); Lelièvre s.n., Senegal (syn- LE); Ehrenberg, Arabia (syn- LE).
Vilfa helvola Trin., Mém. Acad. Sci. Pétersb., sér. 6,2: 52 (1810)
Vilfa glaucifolia Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 154 (1854).- Type: Kotschy 74, Kordofan, Sudan (iso- K,L,MPU,TUB,W,WAG) ;
Sporobolus glaucifolius (Hochst. ex Steud.) Hochst. ex Dur. & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afric. 5 : 820 (1894).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 408 (1972); FTEA: 371 (1974); Fl. Mauritanie 2: 472 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 153 (1992); Pl. Mauritanie: 291 (1998); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 151, fig (1995); Poac. Niger: 298, fig. (1999) ; Pl. Burkina Faso: 114 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 148 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted perennial of 5-70 cm high with long slender stolons. Culms erect or ascending, hard, vigourous, wiry, 1-2 mm diameter. Leaves mainly cauline, flat, 2-15 cm long and 2-4 mm wide, glaucous, tapering to a filiform tip; ligule a fringe of short hairs.
* Inflorescence a linear or narrowly lanceolate panicle of 4-22 cm long and 5-20 mm wide, primary branches of 0.5-5 cm long, usually erect and bearing dense clusters of spikelets almost from the base, sometimes contracted and towards the tip subspiciform.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 1.4 -2 mm long, pale greenish brown. Glumes narrowly lanceolate, as long as spikelet or the lower glume a little shorter, smooth and scaberulous, acute to acuminate. Lemma narrowly ovate, as long as spikelet, acute. Anthers 3, 0.7-0.8 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid, 0.5-0.7 mm long.
Vernacular names: ankkog (Blokhuis 13).
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Libya, Ethiopia, Uganda and NE and E Africa, Arabic Peninsula, S Asia and Myamar.