Flora 27: 248 (1844).- Type: Korschy 1837/192, Sudan, Al Khartum (iso- W,G,L).
Rottboellia papillosa (Hochst.) Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 699 (1894).
Regional litterature: Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 365, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 138 (2015).
Description:
* Annual of 0.4-1 m high. Leaves lanceolate, 7-25 cm long and 8-20 mm wide, pilose with tubercle-based hairs, margins cartilaginous, ciliate, base rounded; ligule an eciliate membrane.
* Inflorescence fasciculate, 30-60 cm long, composed of terminal and axillary racemes. Racemes single, 3-7 cm long with spikelets alternately on opposite sides; rhachis fragile, internodes oblong, 2.5-3 mm long. Spikelets sunken; pedicelled spikelets absent, pedicels wholly united to internode.
* Sessile spikelets oblong, dorsally compressed, 2.5-3 mm long, callus truncate with a central peg. Lower glume oblong, coriaceous, keeled near the tip, 9-veined; upper glume elliptic, membranous. Lower lemma oblong, 4 mm long, hyaline; upper lemma linear, hyaline.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Eritrea, Ethiopia.