FTA 9: 178 (1917).- Type: Forstal, Egypt (holo- C).
Andropogon annulatus Forssk., Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 173 (1775).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 471 (1972); Fl. Sahara: 157 (1977); FTEA: (1982); Fl. Mauritania: 420, fig (1991); Pl. Mauritanie: 306 (1998); Fl. Chad (2013); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 308, fig. (1995); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 38, fig (2002); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 125 (2015).
Description:
* Densely caespitose perennial of 0.25-1 m high; important root system, down to 1 m deep. Culms weak, erect or ascending, glabrous with a spread ring of hairs at the nodes. Leaves linear, 3-30 cm long and 2-7 mm wide, linear, flat with scabrous margins; ligule membranous, dented; sheaths glabrous..
* Inflorescence 2-6(-15) subdigitate racemes on a short axis. Racemes 2-7 cm long; shortly pedunclate with glabrous peduncles; internodes linear and ciliate. Spikelets paired; 1-6 pairs of homogamous spikelets at the base of each raceme.
* Spikelets sessile oblong 2-6 mm long, pubescent and aristate; callus ciliate, short. Glumes equal, papery, the lower one keeled and scabrid, pilose in the upper part with tubercle-based hairs. Lower lemma hyaline; upper lemma narrow, hyaline ending in a geniculate awn of 8-25 mm long. Anthers 3. Pedicelled spikelets similar to the sessile spikelets in size and shape, often slightly smaller and male or neuter.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Niger, Chad, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Morocco, Aleria, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, and NE, C, E, southern Africa and Asia, introduced in Australia, Americas.
Key to the varieties
1. Lower glume of sessile spikelet pubescent to pilose below the middle; bulbous-based hairs confined to the margin above. var. annulatum
1'.Lower glume of sessile spikelet pilose to villous wih a distinct subapical fringe of bulbous-based hairs. var. papillosum
var. annulatum
Description:
* Lower glume of sessile spikelet pubescent to pilose below the middle; bulbous-based hairs confined to the margin above.
var. papillosum (A. Rich) de Wet & Harlan;
Boll. Soc. Argent. Bot. 12: 212 (1968).- Type: Schimper 526, Ethiopia (iso- K).
Andropogon papillosus Hochst. ex A. Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 457 (1850);
Dichantium papillosum (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Stapf, FTA 9: 179 (1917).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 725 (1982); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 308, fig. (1995); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 40 (2002); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 125 (2015);
Description: Lower glume of sessile spikelet pilose to villous, with a distinct subapical fringe of bulbous-based hairs.