Nom. Bot. ed. 2.1: 562 (1840).- Type: Desfontaines 130, Algeria (holo- P).
SYNONYMS
Poa atrovirens Desf., Flora Atlant. 1: 73 (1798);
Poa biformis Kunth, Rév. Gram. 2: 471, fig 149 (1831).- Type: Lelièvre s.n., Mali ;
Eragrostis bromoides Jedwabn, Bot. Archiv. 5: 190 (1924), non Steud. (1854) nom. Illegit.- Type: Chevalier 8588, CAR (iso- K);
Eragrostis sudanica Chev., Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, sér. 2, 20: 471 (1948).- Type: Chevalier 233, Mali (holo- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 390 (1972); Ghana grasses: 150 (1977); Gram. Togo: 2012 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 454 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 135 (1992); Poac. CI: 134, fig. (1995) ; Pl. Mauritanie: 282 (1998); Poac. Niger: 191, fig. (1999); Fl Zambesiaca 10,2:112 (1999); Fl. Bénin: 205 (2006) ; Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 167 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 137 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 459 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 86 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 129 (2015).
Description:
* Variable perennial bunchgrass of 0.3-1.3 m high. Culms erect and branched towards the base and sometimes simple and ascending, slender but strong. Leaves erect, sometimes obliquely ascending, long linear, sometimes expanded, flat but usually rolled inwards, glabrous, 10-30 cm long and 2-4 mm broad, with scabrid margins; base passing straight into sheath, often hairy about the axil and the upper margins, with a distinct pale collar; ligule a very narrow membrane;, sheath pallid, glabrous.
* Inflorescence a rather drooping panicle, ovate or oblong, 10-30 cm long with the spikelets more or less clustered along the ascending branches of up to 12 cm; spikelets usually all pedicelled.
* Spikelets flattened, linear, pale green to grey, often tinged with purple, 5-20 mm long and 1.5-2.5 mm wide, dense, the rachilla partly concealed by the lemmas. Glumes early disarticulating, ovate elliptic. Lemmas ovate, 1.4-2 mm long, firmly chartaceous; lemmas and paleas disarticulate at the same moment. Caryopsis elliptical, brown, 0.7-0.9 mm long and 0.3 mm wide.
Vernacular names: Dzetse leke (kapsiki, Leeuwenberg & Van Beek 10442); saraji (Bamenda, agric. dep.); saraho bafere (foulfouldé, Malzy 477); sarawol, tappa walowol (foulfouldé, Malzy 165); siokowaluwol (foulfouldé, Malzy 566).
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC and Burundi, NE, E, southern Africa and tropical Asia to New Guinea; introduced in Europe and the Americas.