Hort. Berol. 1: 88 (1827).- Type: Ehrenberg s.n., Eritrea, Dhalak (holo- B; iso- FI,L).
Regional litterature: Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 147 (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 147 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted annual of 5-15 cm high. Culms delicate, geniculately ascending. Leaves flat or convolute, firm, 1-5 cm long and 0.5-1.3 mm wide, subacute; ligule a fringe of hairs.
* Inflorescence a narrowly elliptic panicle of 2-4 cm long; lowermost primary branches in whorls, thinly scattered with glandular spots. Spikelets appressed or spreading along the whole length of the primary branches, borne either directly or on 2-spiculate branchlets.
* Spikelets narrowly lanceolate, 1-1.4 mm long, purple. Lower glume elliptic ovate, 0.3-0.5 mm long, obtuse; upper glume narrowly ovate, as long as the spikelet, acuminate. Lemma ovate, 0.8-1.2 mm long. Anthers 2, 0.2 mm long. Caryopsis obovoid, 0.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan (?).
Distribution world-wide: NE Africa, Saudi Arabia.
Note: On holo is written Sudan but probably Eritrea (CBJ/JSTOR).