Fl. Capensis 7: 742 (1900).- Type: Burchel 2057, South Africa, Asbestos Mts (syn- K); 2091, South Africa, Asbestos Mts (syn- K); MacOwan s.n., South Africa, Somerset E (syn- K).
Oropetium tibesticum Gillet & Quyézel, J. Agric. Trop. 6: 45 (1959) nom. inval. Type: Chad Tibesti
Regional litterature: FWTA: 405 (1972); FTEA: 307 (1974) ; Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 98, fig. (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 290 (1998); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 32, fig (1999); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Tiny tufted perennial 8-15 cm high; butt sheaths persistent and infesting the base, with fibrous dead sheaths. Culms erect. Leaves narrow-rolled or flat, 1-4 cm long and 0.5-1 mm wide, obtuse to acute; ligule a ciliolate membrane.
* Inflorescence in straight or curved spikes, 2-10 cm long and 0.5-1 mm wide; rhachis flattened, tardily disarticulating into segments of 1-4 spikelets. Spikelets in opposite or subopposite, occasionally adjacent ranks, deeply to superficially embedded..
* Spikelets with one fertile floret, lanceolate, 2-4 mm long. Lower glume 0.1-0.4 mm long, truncate; upper glume 2-3 mm long, acute. Lemma elliptic oblong, hyaline, 1.5-2 mm long, 3-nerved, mucronate with a mucro up to 0.3 mm long. Grain elliptic oblong, 1-1.5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Mali, Nigeria, Chad,
Distribution world-wide: Western Sahara, Morocco, Libya, and Somalia, E and southern Africa and the Arabic Peninsular.