Kew Bull. 23: 295 (1969).- Type: Morton & Gledhill SL1885, Tingi Mts, Sierra Leone (iso- K, P, WAG).
Lepargochloa glabra Gledhill, Bol. Soc. Brot., ser. 2, 40: 65 (1966).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 511 (1972); Fl. Guinée: 473 (2009).
Description:
* Caespitose perennial of 0.3-0.9 m high with persistent thick butt sheaths and fibrous remains, resisting the passage of fire at the base. Culms erect, weak, simple and glabrous. Leaves filiformous, 25-60 cm long and 0.5-2 mm wide, glabrous but ciliate near the basis; ligule a short truncate denticulate membrane; sheaths glabrous.
* Inflorescence a solitary terminal spiciformous racemes of 3-7 cm long, long-excerted from the spathes; internodes crateriform towards the tip, glabrous, 7 mm long. Spikelets in pairs, similar; pedicels linear, foliaceous, curved, glabrous.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate to ovate, 6-7 mm long; callus glabrous, truncate with a central peg. Lower glume coriaceous, longitudinally striate and transversely muricate on the outer nerves, rarely smooth, 2-dented and sometimes shortly aristate; upper glume oblong, membranous with a scabrous keel and short awn. Lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline; upper lemma elliptic, 4 mm long, hyaline, ciliate near the tip. Caryopse oblong, 3-3.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast.