Syn. Pl. Glum.: 1: 266 (1854).- Type: Roxburgh sn, India (holo- BM).
Poa gangetica Roxb., Fl. Ind. 1: 341 (1820);
Eragrostis cambessidiana (Kunth) Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 269 (1854).- Type: Lelièvre s.n., Senegal (iso- MPU);
Eragrostis dumasiana A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 2, 20: 472 (1948).- Type: Chevalier 309, Balandougou, Guinea (iso- P);
Eragrostis dakarensis A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 2,20 : 470 (1948).- Type: Chevalier s.n., Dakar, Senegal (holo- P) ;
Eragrostis pumila A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 2, 20: 472 (1948).- Type : Chevalier 44089bis, Mali, Farako (holo- P) ;
Eragrostis vinicolor var. pallida A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 2, 20: 472 (1948).- Type : Chevalier s.n., Ivory Coast, Bouaké (holo- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 389 (1972); FTEA: 217 (1974); Gram. Togo: 216 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 454 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 132 (1992); Poac. CI: 128, fig. (1995; Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 127, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 283 (1998); Poac. Niger: 189, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 105 (1999); Fl. Bénin: 206 (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 167 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 137 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 459 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 87 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 129 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted annual, branching near the base from a somewhat flattened tussock, 0.2-0.8 m high. Slender culms either rising from the tuft or geniculately spreading. Leaves rolled or flat, 15-20 cm long and 1-3 mm wide, erect but sometimes obliquely spreading, narrowly linear, often tightly in rolled, glabrous with finely scabrid margins, base very slightly rounded or passing straight into the sheath, with hairy margins; ligule a fringe of hairs; sheath glabrous. Roots well developed, fibrous.
* Inflorescence an elliptical to oblong panicle of 5-22 cm long, sometimes condensed about the primary branches but often diffuse or lower part without spikelets, with capillary branchlets bearing numerous spikelets.
* Spikelets linear to oblong, grey green, often purplish, with often a light central patch, 3-10 mm long and 0.8-1.5 mm wide, 5-30 florets. Glumes lanceolate, about half as long as adjacent lemmas, 1.2-1.3 mm long, flattened linear, grey-green to pinkish. Lemmas grey green narrowly ovate, acute to sub obtuse, 1-1.5 mm long, diverging at 45 degrees from the rhachilla, 3-4 times as long as its internodes, disarticulating from the base. Anthers 2. Caryopsis brown, sub-globose, 0.4-0.6 mm long, surface slightly rough.
Vernacular names: Das dyujou (guiziga, Rippstein 2724); dombiho walowolo (foulfouldé, Malzy 641); dzetse leke, dzetse kele (kapsiki, Leeuwenberg & Van Beek 10442); houdojaoule (SRFK4591); mbao (bahia, WAKWA 1).
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Libya, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon and Eritrea, Burundi, E and southern Africa, Asia, introduced in the Americas.