Sp. Pl: 1046 (1753).- Type: Burser 1, 120, Switzerland (holo- UPS).
Regional litterature: FTA 9: 218 (1919); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 1; 130 (1929); FWTA: 485 (1972); Fl. Sahara: 154 (1977) ; FTEA: 770 (1982); Zon: 426 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 322, fig (1995); Fl. Zambesiaca: 64 (2002); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 118 (2015).
Description:
* Leafy, tufted, creeping perennial, the basal butt sheaths silky pubescent below, 0.25-1 m high. Culms slender, branched below, reddish. Leaves linear, 7-25 cm long and 1-4 mm wide, glabrous or pilose; ligule a ciliate membrane of 1.5 mm long; sheaths ciliate, especially on the margins.
* Inflorescence in terminal paired racemes. Racemes erect or slightly divergent, 3-10 cm long; rhachis fragile, internodes slender to stoutly linear, broadening to a cupuliform lobed tip, ciliate, 5 mm long; pedicels somewhat inflated, oblong to subclavate, ciliate, 5.5 mm long.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate, 8-14 mm long, including an oblong ciliate callus of 1.5-2 mm long. Lower glume narrowly lanceolate, flat and (7-) 11-13 nerved between the lateral keels, glabrous, puberulous or hispidulous; keels broadly winged except near the basis, confluent into a membranous bidentate tip; upper glume with an awn of 5-8 mm long. Upper lemma bifid to the middle, its awn 18-30 mm long with a twisted glabrous column. Pedicelled spikelet narrowly elliptic, 6-11 mm long; glume with an awn of 2.5-7 mm long.