Tent. Fl.Abyss. 2: 433 (1851).- Type: Schimper 684, Ethiopia (syn- LE, iso- B,BR,K).
Festuca congolensis St. Yves, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., sér. 2,4: 346 (1936).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 57 (1970) Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 27, fig (1995); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 131 (2015);
Description:
* Loosely tufted perennial with thin slender rhizomes 0.4-1.4 m high. Culms slender, ascending at the base. Leaves10-30 cm long and 2-5 mm wide, flat, with falcate auricles; sheaths glabrous.
* Inflorescence a loosely ovate panicle, sometimes linear wih the branches close to the axis, 12-30 cm long.
* Spikelets (2-)3-7-flowered, narrowly oblong, 10-17 mm long. Lower glume 3-4.5 mm long, upper glume 4-5.5 mm long. Lemmas narrowly oblong-elliptic, 7-9 mm long, smooth or scaberulous, awned from 0.5-1 mm below the acute hyaline tip; awn 8-15 mm long; palea as long as or slightly longer than the lemma, its keels scabrid. Ovary glabrous; anthers 2.5-4 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Cameroon, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC and C and E Africa.