Linnaea 7: 321 (1832).- Type: Ecklon 945, South Africa, Western Cape (iso- M,K,TUB,WAG).
Aira capensis Steud., Flora 12:469 (1829);
Koeleria convoluta Steud., Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 293 (1854).- Type: Schimper 689, Ethiopia (iso-G,HAL,K,L,REG,US);
Koeleria cristata (Linn.) Pers. var. convoluta (Steud.) C. E. Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1936: 500 (1936).
Regional litterature: FTEA Gramineae: 79, fig. 27 (1970); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,1: 69, fig. 20 (1971); FWTA: 371 (1972); Gram. Cameroun: 5468 fig: 13 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 38, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 135 (2015)
Description:
* Densely tufted perennial of 20-80 cm high with fibrous dead sheaths at the base and leaves mainly basal; culms simple, stiffly erect. Leaves convolute, 5-30 cm long and 0.5-2 mm wide, often villous at the under side; culms leaves flatter and broader; ligule membranous, 1-2 mm long.
* Inflorescence a linear compactly spiciform or somewhat lobed panicle of 3-18 cm long, pale green with a silvery sheen, often purple-tinged; branches, rhachis and pedicels lanate.
* Spikelets with 1-3 florets and reduced florets towards the top, oblong or cuneate, 4-6 mm long. Glumes similar, lanceolate, membranous, keeled, scaberulous in the upper half, the lower 1-nerved, 3.5-5 mm long and the upper 3.5-6 mm long. Lemmas elliptic, 3-5 mm long, acute to mucronate. Anthers 1.5-2.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cameroun, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda and E and southern Africa, Yemen.
Note: A polymorphic species.