Enum. Pl. 1: 211 (1833).- Type: Wallich 3774, Nepal (holo- LE, iso- BM, K).
Vilfa pilifera Trin., Diss. Bot. 157 (1824);
Sporobolus praecox A. Chev., Rev. Bot. Appl. Agric. Trop. 14: 113 (1934).- Type: Chevalier 34907, Labé, Guinea (holo- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 407 (1972); Gram. Cameroun: 152, fig. 31 (1992); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 145, fig (1995); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 179 (1999); Fl. Guinée: 479 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 115 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 148 (2015).
Description:
* Caespitose annual of 5-40 cm long. Culms slender, erect, unbranched. Leaves flat or convolute, 2-15 cm long and 1-2 mm wide, loosely pilose, a row of raised glands along the margins, sometimes also marginal setae; ligule a fringe of hairs.
* Inflorescence a spiciform, linear panicle of 1-14 cm long, 0.3-0.6 cm wide. Primary branches short, appressed, whorled at most nodes, spotted with small glands. Spikelets pedicelled.
* Spikelets lanceolate, subterete, 2-2.5 mm long, yellowish green. Lower glume lanceolate, 1.2-1.5 mm long, acute; upper glume ovate, 1.8-2.5 mm long, membranous, acuminate, shorter to as long as the apex of florets. Lemma ovate, 1.5-2.2 mm long, acute; palea 2-veined. Anthers 3, 0.5 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid, 1-1.4 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC and C,E and southern Africa, Asia, Latin America.
Note: In Cameroon, DRC some are not whorled with upper glume shorter than lemma (probably new species): Zon 2792, 3611, Gerard 4450.