Fl. Afr. Austr.: 453 (1841).- Type: Drège 8131, Afrique du Sud (iso- P).
Bromus scabridus Hook. f., Journ. Linn. Soc. 7: 231 (1864).- Type : Mann 2085, Mt Cameroon, Cameroon (holo- K).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 68, fîg. 23 (1970); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,1: 60, fig (1971); FWTA: 369 (1972); Gram. Cameroun: 79, fig. 16 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 54, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 122 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted perennial, 1-2 m high. Culms slender, erect from an ascending base or scrambling, Leaves flat, 20-30 cm long and 7-10 mm wide, often auriculated at the base ; ligule a hyaline membrane of 4 mm long; sheaths retorsely hispid.
* Inflorescence large, diffuse and open, 20-30 cm long, erect or nodding, the branches filiform, widely spreading.
* Spikelets narrowly oblong or wedge-shaped, 4-9-flowered, 2.5-4 cm long, green or purple-tinged. Glumes lanceolate, finely acuminate, and often shortly awned ; the lower 8-10 mm, the upper 12-13 mm long. Lemmas 5-nerved, elliptic, rounded on the back, narrowed into an entire or emarginate tip, 8-15 mm long; awn slightly shorter than the lemma body, 2-12 mm long, straight, at or just below the tip. Anthers 2.5-3 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cameroon, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda and C, NE, E and southern Africa, Yemen.