Fl. Franc. 3: 621 1778).- Type: Europe (lecto- P).
SYNONYMS:
Lolium gaudinii Parl., Fl. Ital. 1 : 532 (1850).
Regional litterature: Fl. Zambesiaca 10,1: 44 fig (1971); Fl. Mauritania: 403, fig (1991); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 18, fig. 9 (1995); Fl. Libya: 20 (1988); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Caespitose annual of 30-90 cm high. Culms erect or decumbent. Leaves 6-25 cm long and 4-10 mm wide; sheath oral hairs lacking and auricles falcate; ligule an eciliate membrane of 1-2 mm long.
* Inflorescence a single bilateral raceme of 10-30 cm long; rhachis semi-terete. Spikelets appressed, packing 2 -rowed adaxial, their length apart, sessile.
* Spikelets with 5-15 fertile florets and diminished florets at the apex, oblong, 7.5-25 mm long, disarticulating below each fertile floret. Lower glume absent or obscure; upper glume lanceolate, coriaceous, smooth, obtuse or acute. Lemmas oblong, 5-8 mm long, coriaceous, 2 -fid, obtuse with a fine awn of 5-10 mm long; palea keels scaberulous. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Chad
Distribution world-wide: Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea, southern Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, Americas.