Mant. 2: 205 (18240.- Type: Dominican Republic.
Lappago phleoides Fig. & De Not., Mem. Acad. Sci. Torino, ser. 2,14: 390, fig. 38 )1853.- Type: Figari, Sudan.
Tragus racemosus var. erectus Mutel, Fl. Franc. Herbor. 4: 23 (1837).- Type: Leproieur s.n., Senegal, Dagana (type- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 413 (1972); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 178, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 294 (1998); Poac. Niger: 325, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 246, fig (1999); Pl. Burkina Faso: 117 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 150 (2015).
Description:
* Caespitose annual, 5-60 cm high. Culms erect, or geniculately ascending and rooting on the lower nodes. Leaves lanceolate, 1-6 cm long and 2-5 mm wide; margins ciliate; ligule a short ciliate membrane.
* Inflorescence composed of numerous racemes along a central axis in a spreading, oblong false spike of 2-16 cm long. Racemes 0.3-0.7 cm long, bearing 2 fertile spikelets on each; rhachis deciduous from axis, subterete; bases filiform, 0.5 mm long. Spikelets in pairs, fertile spikelets sessile.
* Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, lanceolate, 2-3 mm long. Lower glume absent or obscure; upper glume ovate, 2-3 mm long, membranous, ribbed, with hooked spines (often bulbous); rough on veins, acute. Fertile lemma ovate, 1.5-2.5 mm long, membranous, surface puberulous, acuminate.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, NE, E and southern Africa, Asia; introduced in the Americas.