Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 3 (1854).- Type: Kotschy 136, Sudan (holo- P, iso- K, BR, BM, W, LD).
Oryza sativa var. punctata (Kotschy ex Steud.) Shweinf., Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell. 44: 165 (1926);
Oryza schweinfurthiana Prod., Bot. Arch. 1: 231 (1922);
Oryza eichingeri Peter var. longearistata Peter, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih.40: 251 (1930).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 31 (1970); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,1: 32, fig (1971; Ghana grasses: 194 (1977); Gram. Togo: 265 (1983); Gram. Cameroun: 54, fig: 10 (1992); Poicelot, Poac. CI: 82, fig. (1995); Fl. Bénin: 223 (2006); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 138 (2015).
Description:
* Erect perennial bunchgrass 0.6-1.5 m high in small tufts. Culms thick and spongy, often branched from the base and rooting from the lower nodes when standing in water. Leaves broad linear, up to 60 cm long and 23 mm wide, but often narrower, scabrid on both surfaces and margins, clear yellow midrib; base narrowed, shortly lobed or passing straight into the sheath; ligule a prominent rounded membrane, 3-10 mm long; sheath glabrous.
* Inflorescence a loose spreading pale green panicle of up to 25 cm long with branches spread or ascending and tightly packed deciduous spikelets on the upper half of the branches.
* Spikelets oblong, 4.5-6 mm long and 2-2.5 mm broad. Sterile lemmas sharp triangular, 2-2.5 mm long; fertile lemma with a short slender pinkish awn of 4-7 mm long, sometimes awnles (Jongkind 10450); palea narrower with an apiculate tip or sometimes briefly awned. Caryopse oblong-elliptic, 4-5 mm long.
Distribution West Africa: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: C, E and southern Africa.