Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 269 (1854).- Type : Kotschy 6, Abu Gerad, Sudan (iso- LE).
SYNONYMS
Poa tremula Lam., Tab. Encycl. Meth. Bot. 1: 185 (1791).- Type: Roussillon s.n., Senegal (holo- P);
Eragrostis lamarcki Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 269 (1854), based on Poa tremula ;
Eragrostis multiflora Trin., Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St-Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 1(4): 401 (1830).- Type: Schimper 110, Ethiopia (iso- GOET).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 391 (1972); FTEA: 236 (1974); Ghana grasses: 153 (1977); Gram. Togo: 219 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 454 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 124 (1992); Poac. CI: 142, fig. (1995); Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 118, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 284 (1998); Poac. Niger: 197, fig. (1999); Fl Zambesiaca 10,2: 139 (1999); Fl. Bénin: 207 (2006); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 167 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 137 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 460 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 88 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 130 (2015).
Description:
* Loosely tufted simple or sparingly branched annual of, 0.3-0.9 m tall. Culms green, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaves linear lanceolate, up to 20 cm long and 5 mm broad, often inrolled, glabrous with smooth margins; base slightly rounded and hairy with a whitened collar; ligule a fringe of long white hairs; sheath glabrous.
* Inflorescence a large spreading, finely branched panicle, ovate to elliptic, 5-50 cm long, loose; branches up to 10 cm long with glands in the axils. Numerous spikelets trembling on slender pedicels of 4-16 mm long, sometimes with tiny tufts of white hairs in the axils.
* Spikelets pale to pinkish purple, the lower mature part often straw-colored, flattened, linear, 8-50 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide, 10-100-flowered. Glumes glabrous, lower glume 1 mm, upper glume 2 mm long. Lemmas obtuse at the tip when flattened, 1.5-2 mm long, closely imbricate almost till the tip, keel excurrent; paleas persistent, 1.5 mm long, scabrid on the keels. Caryopsis ovoid to sub-globular, 0.4-0.6 mm long.
Vernacular names: Kalafo (arabe, Gaston 1189); yéné ( Gaston 2068); pougoulo (Savadogou 13).
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo, Gabon and NE, E and southern Africa, Asia.