Novosti Syst.Vyssh. Rast. 7: 47 (1971).- Type: Portugal (lecto- LINN).
Festuca cristata Linn., Sp. Pl.: 76 (1753);
Koeleria phleoides (Vill.) Pers., Syn. Pl. 1: 97 (1812), nom. superfl.;
Lophochloa cristata (Linn.) Hyl., Nord. Kärlväxtfl. 283 (1953).
Regional litterature: Fl. Sahara: 178 (1977); Fl. Mauritania: 424, fig (1991); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 40, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritania: 273 (1998); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 143 (2015)
Description:
* Tufted annual of 5-60 cm high; leaves mostly basal. Culms erect or geniculately ascending. Leaves flat, 2.5-15 cm long and 1.5-8 mm wide, flaccid; ligule a glabrous membrane of 1 mm long.
* Inflorescence a compact cylindric panicle or laxer and lobed, 1-12 cm long; branches scaberulous, glabrous. Pedicels oblong.
* Spikelets oblong, 3-7 mm long, 3-10-flowered; rhachilla pubescent. Glumes similar, glabrous or thinly hairy, shining, gaping; the lower acuminate, 1-nerved, narrowly lanceolate, 2-3 mm long; the upper elliptic, 3-nerved, 2.5-3.5 mm long. Lemmas elliptic, 2.5-4 mm long, glabrous or sparsely hairy, smooth or minutely tuberculate, acute with an apcical or subapical geniculate awn 1-3 mm long. Anthers 3, 0.3 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide:, Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt and Eritrea, Europe, southern Asia, introduced in N America.