Kirkia 3: 136 (1963).- Type: Sieber & Kohaut s.n., Egypt (iso- W).
Aristida vulnerans Trin. & Rupr., Sp. Gram. Stipac. 175 (1842).
Regional litterature: Pl. Mauritanie: 278 (1998); Poaceae Niger: 146, fig (1999); Fl. Egypt: 227 (2205); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Suffrutescent rhizomatous perennial of 1 m high. Culms erect, robust, branched, smooth and glabrous. Leaves rigid, 10-30 cm long with a sharp tip; sheaths glabrous; ligule reduced to a fringe of hairs.
* Inflorescence a lanceolate panicle of 15-20 cm long and 4-5 cm wide, rather dense, embraced by the sheath of the uppermost leaf; ramifications straight, more or less pubescent, with a tuft of hairs in the insertion with the primary axis; pedicls pubescent, scabrid.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 10-11 mm long, yellow. Glumes subequal, sometimes unequal, membranous; lower glume 9 mm long, lanceolate, with a fine tip and scabrid keel. Lemmas cylindrical, 5-6 mm long, including the punguent callus of 1 mm; awn articulated at the tip of the lemma; column short, branches plumose, equal, about 10 mm long.
Note: Lebrun, 1998 and Poilecot, 1999 consider the differences with S. pungens minimal: inflorescence more pubescent, keels scabrid and awns slightly shorter and perhaps S vulnerans has a more tropical distribution.