Fl. Afr. Austral. III: 456 (1841).- Type: Drège s.n., Cap, South Africa (iso- K,M, syn- LE,P).
Brachypodium flexum var. abyssinicum Hochst., Exsicc. (Pl. Schimp.) 2 : 674 (1842).- Type: Schimper 674, Mts Silke, Ethiopia (iso- BR,L,MPU,TUB,W,WAG).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 71 (1970); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,1: 63, fig (1971); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 57, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 117 (2015).
Description:
* Very variable, weak-stemmed perennial of 0.3-0.9 m high, often forming dense mats. Culms slender, weak and straggling, geniculately ascensing, usually branched below, scaberulous, pubescent on the nodes. Leaves linear, 5-17 cm long and 2-6 mm wide, thin, scabrid below; ligule a truncate, eciliate membrane of 1 mm long; sheaths scabrid, shorter than the internodes, striate, tight at first, with a row of spreading hairs along the margins.
* Inflorescence a solitary raceme, drooping or erect. Racemes 4-12 cm long, usually with 5-8 spikelets borne 2-rowed upon pedicels of 1-2 mm long.
* Spikelets with 6-12 florets, with reduced florets at the tip, breaking up at maturity below each floret, narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-4 cm long. Glumes subequal, lanceolate, the lower 4-6 mm and the upper 5-8.5 mm long, membranous, acute or acuminate. Lemmas lanceolate, 7-11 mm long, 7-nerved, pubescent in the upper half and near the margins, tipped with a straight awn of 4-8 mm long, paleas 7-8 mm long, with rigid cilia along the keels. Anthers 3-4 mm long, linear.
Distribution West Africa: Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea (Bioco), C, NE, E and southern Africa.