Fl. Capensis 7: 591 (1900).- Type : Hasselquist s.n., Palestine (holo- LINN).
Festuca fusca Linn., Sp. Pl. Ed. 2: 109 (1762);
Leptochloa fusca (Linn.) Kunth, Révis. Gramin. 1: 91 (1829);
Diplachne fusca var. alba (Steud.) Chiov., Fl. Somalia 1: 337 (1929).- Type: Kotschy 200, Sudan, Nubie (iso- K);
Diplachne alba Hochst. (1842).- Type: Kostdchy 200, Sudan (iso- K);
Leptochloa malabarica (Linn.) Veldk., Blumea 19: 64 (1971).- Type: Rheede, Hort. Mal. 12, tab. 45 (1703).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 398 (1972); Fl. Mauritania: 412, 434, fig (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 107, fig. 24 (1992); Pl. Mauritanie: 287 (1998); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 101, fig (1995); Poac. Niger: 247, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 25 (1999); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 136 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted aquatic or semi-aquatic rhizomatous perennial of 0.6-1.5 m high. Culms erect or ascending, branched and rooting from the lower nodes. Leaves narrow, linear, 10-50 cm long and 2-5 mm wide, tapering to a filiform almost sharp point; ligule membranous, 1.8-5 mm long; basal sheaths papery.
* Inflorescence in erect racemes along an axe of 15-30 cm, straight or slightly bent with 10-30 flexuous racemes of 10-17 cm long. Spikelets on short stiff scabrid pedicels of up to 1 mm long
* Spikelets 6-10 flowered, olive green, becoming pallid, 8-15 mm long, the upper floret often imperfect, rhacheole breaking up between the florets. Glumes lanceolate with scabrid keels; the lower 1-2 mm long; the upper 2.5-5 mm long. Lemmas 3-5 mm long, narrowly oblong, scarcely keeled, silky ciliolate near the base on the lateral nerves, ending in short awn from the sinus of 0.2-0.3 mm long.Caryopsis 1.5 mm long.
Note: Polymorphic species.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Burundi, NE, E and southern Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas.