Kew Bull. 16: 250 (1962).- Type: Quartin Dillon & Petit, Ethiopia, Ouodgerate (holo- P).
Lepidopironia cenchriformis A.Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 442 (1850);
Chloris cenchriformis (A.Rich.) Baill., Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris 2: 1070 (1893);
Tetrapogon spathaceus (Hochst. ex Steud.) Hack. ex Dur. &Schinz, FWTA ed. 1,2: 520 (1895).- Type: Kotschy 98, Sudan, Arasch-Cool (iso- K,L,M,MPU,P,W,WAG).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 399 (1972); FTEA: 348 (1974); Fl. Mauritanie 2: 480, fig (1991); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 159, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 287 (1998); Poac. Niger: 258, fig. (1999); Pl. Burkina Faso: 116 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 149 (2015)
Description:
* Annual or short-living perennial of 0.1-0.6 m high. Culms erect or ascending, weak, glabrous with 3-6 black nodes. Leaves linear, glaucous, 6-12 cm long and 2-4 mm wide, ciliate with long hairs towards the base; ligule very short, ciliolate; sheaths keeled, flabellate, upper sheath dilated-spathaceous, with or without a short blade, enclosing the inflorescence.
* Inflorescence in a solitary raceme, sometimes geminate. Raceme one-sided, 4-5 cm long and 7-8 mm wide, usually embraced by the inflated uppermost leaf-sheath. Rhachis trigonous; spikelets in 2 series, densely overlapping.
* Spikelets truncate, with about 4 fertile florets and 4 sterile flowers above. Glumes membranous, acuminate, the lower 5-8 mm long and upper 7-12 mm long. Lemmas broadly ovate, villous, awned from just below the bilobed tip, the margins with a membranous wing above; the uppermost one often reduced; palea with 2 ciliate keels. Caryopsis 2-2.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda and NE, E Africa, Arabia.