Rev. Int. Bot. Appl. Agric. Trop. 33: 426 (1953).- Type: Jacques-Félix 1956, Guinea, Pita (holo- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 479 (1972).
Description:
* Spreading annual of 30-40 cm high. Culms prostrate, 1-1.3 mm diameter., rooting from the lower nodes. Leaves 0.5-6 cm long and 1-3 mm wide, margins cartilaginous, obtuse at the tip.
* Inflorescence a scanty compound panicle with terminal and axillary solitary racemes, subtended by a linear spatheole of 1.5-3 cm de long. Racemes spiciform, 1.5-2 cm long; rhachis fragile with linear ciliate internodes of 3.5 mm long, narrower than the sessile spikelet. Pedicels filiform, ciliate.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 3.5 mm long; callus square, 0.5 mm long, bearded with hairs of 1 mm long. Lower glume lanceolate, chartaceous, 2-keeled, with 3 distinct intercarinal veins, pubescent, 2-fid; upper glume lanceolate, membranous. Lower lemma oblong, 2.5 mm long, hyaline, ciliolate on the margins; upper lemma oblong, hyaline, incised for 0.6-0.7 of its length with a geniculate awn of 26 mm long from the sinus; awn with a twisted column of 12 mm long.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Guinea, Sierra Leone.