Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 2: 136 (1969).- Type: Schimper 1458, Ethiopia (iso- K, M).
Andropogon coleotrichus Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 386 (1854);
Hyparrhenia comosa (Kuntze) Stapf, FTA 9: 358 (1919).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 812 (1982); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 348, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 132 (2015).
Description: Annual 1-2.5 m high. Culms supported by stilt roots, glabrous or with a ring of fulvous hairs at each node. Leaves up to 30 cm long, 17 mm wide; ligule rounded, up to 4 mm long; sheaths glabrous or hirsute.
* Inflorescence a loose false panicle of 20-30 cm long. Spatheoles narrowly lanceolate, 4.5-7 cm long, the peduncle from half to nearly as long and pilose with white hairs near the top. Racemes 2-2.5 cm long, 4-8-awned per pair, deflexed; raceme-bases subequal, the upper ± 1.5 mm long, flattened, stiffly setose above, the tip produced into a scarious linear-oblong appendage 1.5-2 mm long; internodes 5.5 mm long, densely pilose. One homogamous pair at the base of the lower raceme only.
* Sessile spikelet linear-lanceolate, 6.5-8 mm long, pallid, hispidulous to densely pubescent; callus 2 mm long, pungent. Awn 5-7.5 cm long. Pedicelled spikelet 8-12 mm long, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, with a slender awn 6-11 mm long; pedicel tooth narrowly triangular, 0.3-0.6 mm long.
Note: Imperfectly known species, distinguished by its 4-8 awned raceme-pairs; perhaps an artificial grouping of severan awned variants of other species.
Distribution West Africa: South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania and Yemen.