Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. 26: 63 (1919).- Type: Bovone 92, Zaïre (holo- TO).
Panicum minutiflorum A. Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 362 (1851).- Type: Quartin Dillon, Ethiopia, Shire (syn- P); Schimper 779, Ethiopia, Djeladjeranne (isosyn- K);
Digitaria minutiflora (A. Rich.) Stapf, FTA 9: 476 (1919).
Regional litterature: FI. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 55 (1934); FWTA: 452 (1972); FTEA: 624 (1982); Gram. Cameroun: 311 (1992); Fl. Guinée: 456 (2009).
Description:
* Annual of 10-70 cm high. Culms slender, solytary or tufted, the nodes hispid. Leaves5-30 cm long and 2-7 mm wide, pubescent, acuminate ; basal sheaths glabrous.
* Inflorescence composed of 3-30 subdigitate racemes clustered towards the top of the culm . Racemes 1.5-13 cm long, inserted singly or in groups in fuller inflorescences along an axis of 0.5-12 cm long, the spikelets grouped in clusters of 2-6 along a slender triquetrous axis ; pedicels 0.2-1.2 mm long, tipped by white setae of 0.5-1.5 mm long, surrounding the soikelets.
* Spikelets elliptic, 0.7-1.2 mm long, glabrous. Lower glume absent ; upper glume reduced to a tiny hyaline scale. Lower lemma as long as spikelet, membranous, 3-nerved; upper lemma exposed, elliptic, coriaceous, longitudinally striate-punctate, dark-brown at maturity.
Distribution West Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cameroon,CAR.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo and Burundi, E and southern Africa.