Sp. Pl. 971 (1753).- Type: Hb. Linn. 1096-1, cult. Amérique.
Regional litterature: FTA 9:27 (1917); FWTA: 511 (1972); Ghana grasses: 257 (1977); Gram. Cameroun: 540 (1992); Poac. CI: 678, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 365, fig (1995); Poac. Niger : 662, fig. (1999); Fl. Bénin: (2006); Fl. Guinée: 480 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 119 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 151 (2015).
Description:
* Robust annual, 2-3 m long. Culms erect with prop roots; internodes solid. Leaves cauline; linear to lanceolate, 0.2-1.5 m long and 2-15 cm wide; ligule an ciliated truncate membrane of 5 mm long.
* Inflorescence composed of racemes with male and female spikelets in different inflorescences. Female inflorescence subtended or enclosed by an elliptic, herbaceous spatheole. Racemes single, multilateral; rachis enlarged into a woody cob; spikelet packing regular and crowded, 4-11 -rowed; spikelets in pairs, sunken. Mature inflorescence enclosed by modified leaves (husks), 8-25 cm long and 5-7 cm diameter. Male inflorescence terminal, up to 40 cm long with a central axis and lateral branches of racemes along a central axis; spikelets paired.
* Sessile female spikelets ob ovate, dorsally compressed, persistent on plant. Glumes similar, as long as spikelet, oblate, margins ciliate. Lower lemma ovate, membranous; upper lemma orbicular, membranous. A single basal ovary with a long threadlike style and stigma which grows up to 45 cm. Caryopsis exposed between gaping lemma and palea at maturity. Male spikelets distinct from female, 8-13 mm long. Glumes muticous. Lemma 3-5 -veined, muticous.
Distribution West Africa: Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: World-wide crop, tropical Africa, introduced from South America.