Kirkia 3: 134 (1963).- Type: Corradi 917, Ethiopia (iso- FT).
Aristida foexiana Maire & Wilczek, Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Afrique N.25: 322 (1963).
Regional litterature: Fl. Mauritanie 2: 475 (1991); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Cushion-forming perennial of 15-40 cm high. Culms. Leaves convolute, filiform, stiff, 5-11 cm long and 0.6 mm wide, curled and ribbed, obtuse; ligule a fringe of hairs; sheaths with oral hairs.
* Inflorescence a contracted linear panicle of 4-16 cm long. Spikelets solitary, pedicelled.
* Spikelets lanceolate, subterete, 11-13 mm long; callus elongated, 0.8-1 cm long, pubescent with longer hairs above, pungent. Glumes lanceolate, membranous, longer than the floret; lower glume 10-12 mm long; upper glume 13-15 mm long, mucronate. Lemma elliptic, 3 mm long, coriaceous, scabrous, 3-veined, margins convolute; awn 3-branched, with a 3-4 cm long plumose limb, glabrescent towards the base; column 10 mm straight or slightly twisted, deciduous, abscissing from the top of the lemma, without distinct apical hairs; lateral branches 14-17 mm long, glabrous.