Kew Bull., add. ser. 2: 88 (1969).- Type: Dalziel 263, Nigeria (holo- K).
Hyparrhenia soluta (Stapf) Stapf var. violascens Stapf, FTA: 319 (1919).
Regional litterature: FI. Nigeria: 99 (1970); FWTA 492 (1972). FTEA: (1982); Gram. Cameroun: 478 (1992) ; Pl. Burkina Faso: 93 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Caespitose annual of 0.8-1(-2) m high. Culms solitary, erect. Leaves cauline, 20-40 cm long and 4-6 mm wide; ligule a glabrous membrane of , 1 mm long.
* Inflorescence a loose spathate panicle of 20-30 cm long, sometimes contracted. Spatheoles linear, 4-7 cm long; peduncles excerted from the tip of the spatheole, with spread white hairs. Racemes tardily deflexed, 1.5-3 cm long, with 6-9 awns per pair, yellowish white; bases filiform, unequal, the upper 2-3 mm long, glabrous or with some hairs. One pair of homogamous spikelets at the base of the lower raceme and sometimes one paire at the base of the upper raceme. Pedicels flattened, ciliate,with a tooth of 0.3-0.7 mm long.
* Sessile spikelets linear-lanceolate, 5-7 mm long including the callus of 1 mm long, with silvery to reddish hairs, sometimes villous. Glumes coriaceous, keeled near the tip, 2-fid. Lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline; upper lemma membranous, bifid with a geniculate awn of 2.5-4 cm long from the sinus, colomn twisted, pubescent with hairs 0.1-0.5 mm long. Anthers 3, stigmas 2.
Note: Closely related with H. bagirmica.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad.