Bot. Jahrb. 77: 284 (1957).- Type: Pobeguin 1757, Guinea, Timbo (holo- K, iso- P).
Loudetia capillipes C.E.Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1934: 432 (1934);
Tristachya minuta A. Chev., p.p., Rev. Bot. Appliq. 14: 43 (1934), partly, without proper descr.
Regional litterature: FTA 10: 45 (1937); FWTA: 415 (1972); Poac. CI: 224, fig. (1995); Fl. Guinée: 465 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 96 (2012).
Description:
* Loosely tufted perennial of 0.4-0.7 m high. Culms erect, pilose around the nodes. Leaves setaceous, involute, 10-20 cm long and up to 1 mm broad; ligule a fringe of hairs; basal sheaths villous, the upper ones glabrous.
* Inflorescence an open effuse panicle of 7-18 cm long; branches capillary, abruptly recurved near tip, pilose or villous. Spikelets in triads, deciduous in a cluster with pedicels; pedicels capillary, flexuous, fused to each other below, filiform, subequal; 1.5-4 mm long, ciliate.
* Spikelets 6-7 mm long, pedicel base hooked; callus 0.5 mm long, pilose, truncate.
Glumes similar, lanceolate, chartaceous, brown, hairy on veins with tubercle-based hairs; lower glume 4-5 mm long, acute; upper glume lanceolate, 6-7.5 mm long. Lower lemma similar to upper glume, lanceolate, 6-7 mm long; palea pilose; upper lemma elliptic, 3-4 mm long, coriaceous, pubescent, lanceolate, with a geniculate awn of 2-3 cm long from the sinus with twisted column of 10-13 mm long. Anthers 2; 1.5-2.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast.