N.B.G.B. 14: 103 (1938).- Type: Rüpell s.n., Ethiopia (holo- FR).
Beckera polystachya Fresen., Mus. Senckenb. 2: 132 (1837).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 670 (1982); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 257, fig (1994); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 146 (2015).
Description:
* Loosely tufted annual of 15-180 cm. Culms slender to robust, decumbent and rooting at the nodes below, much-branched, ascending or weak and rambling above. Leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, 4-30 cm long, 2-18 mm wide, sparsely tuberculate-hispid, the base narrowly rounded; sheaths loose, smooth on the nerves, or with tubercle-based hairs near the ligule.
* Inflorescence in racemes of 2-5 cm long, 1-6 per leaf-axil, distant or crowded into a false panicle; spikelets closely imbricate on pedicels 0.2-0.5 mm long.
* Spikelets lanceolate-oblong, 2-3.3 mm lon, asperulous. Glumes both truncate, 0.2-0.4 mm long. Lower lemma abruptly acute, obtuse or minutely bidentate, spinulose on the lateral keels upwards, with a slender awn 1-7 mm long (rarely awnless); upper lemma obtuse or truncate, rarely mucronate; upper palea 0.3-1 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia and Eritrea, Arabia, introduced in E Africa.