Ark. Bot. 11,9: 10 (1912).- Type: Leprieur 17, Senegal (holo- P).
Leptochloa mollis Kunth, Rev. Gram. 2: 443 (1831);
Triodia mollis (Kunth) Dur. & Sch., Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 877 (1895);
Crossotropis mollis (Kunth) Stapf, Ic. Pl. 27:, t. 2609 (1899);
Uralepis ciliata Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 247 (1854).- Type: Leprieur s.n., Senegal (syn- P);
Leptochloa longiglumis Hitchc., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 43: 91 (1930).- Type: Hagerup 453, Senegal (holo- US, iso- K).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 393 (1972); FTEA: 297 (1974); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 105, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 105, fig (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 285 (1998); Poac. Niger: 220, fig. (1999); Pl. Burkina Faso: 117 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 150 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted annual of 0.2-0.5 m high. Culms tender, erect or ascending, glabrous. Leaves 3-6 cm long and up to 4 mm broad; ligule membranous; sheaths pilose with tubercle-based hairs.
* Inflorescence a racemose elliptic-oblong panicle of 8-18 cm long with up to 30 ascending racemes of 2-5 cm long; axis angular, scabrid pubescent.
* Spikelets 5-6 mm long, green or reddish with 5-9 florets, the lower one(s) fertile, the upper reduced. Glumes linear-laceolate, acuminate, 1-nerved, 5-6 mm long, slightly exceeding the lemmas. Lemmas oblong, 2-3 mm long, thinly membranous, conspicuously ciliate on the margins, sparsely hispidulous elsewhere, the apex shortly bilobed with an awn-point 0.5 mm long from the sinus; pales oblong-elliptic with 2 keels. Anthers 0.4 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Egypt, Ethiopia and NE Africa, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Oman.
Note: Varies in spikelet hairiness and grain shape, WNTA specimens with lemmas hairy on the back, paleas glabrous and linear grains.