Mem. Acad. Petersb., Ser. 6(1): 405 (1831).- Type: Thunberg 2252, Japan (holo- UPS).
Poa japonica Thunb., Fl. Jap. 51 (1784);
Eragrostis namaquensis Nees, in Linnaea 12: 452 (1838)).- Type: Drège 2569, South Africa (iso- K, P);
Eragrostis tenuissima Schrad. ex Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr.III: 410 (1841).- Type: India (syn- ST);
Eragrostis lepreurii Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1 : 269 (1854) .- Type : Leprieur s.n., Senegal (type – K);
Eragrostis diplachnoides Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum.: 268 (1854) ).- Type: Kotschy 346, Sudan (iso- K, L);
Eragrostis namaquensis Nees var diplachnoides (Steud.) W.D.Clayton, Kew Bull. 25: 251 (1971);
Glyceria pilosa Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 287 (1954).- Type : Kotschy 413, Sudan (iso- K);
Eragrostis maritima A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Natl. Host. Nat. II, 20 : 473 (1948).- Type : Chevalier 2232, Mbidjem, Senegal (syn- P); Ezanne 29, Fadiout, Senegal (syn- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 387 (1972); Fl. Sahara : 182 (1977); FWTA: 387 (1972); Ghana grasses: 152 (1977); Gram. Togo: 217 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 453 (1991); Gram. Cameroun: 118 (1992); Pl. Mauritanie: 284 (1998) ; Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 114, fig. (1995); Poac. CI: 116, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 114, fig (1995); Poaceae Niger: 187, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,2: 87 (1999); Fl. Bénin: 206 (2006) ; Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 167 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 137 (2008); Pl. Burkina Faso: 88 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 129 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted annual or short-lived perennial, 0.3-1.5 m high. Culms branched, soft, 3-4 mm wide. Leaves long linear, glabrous and finely nerved, light green, 20-30 cm long and 3-5 mm broad, with scabrid margins; base with a conspicuous widened collar 0.5 mm long, passing straight into the sheath; ligule a short membrane of 0.5 mm broad; sheath glabrous, but a few long oral hairs.
* Inflorescence a long dense linear to lanceolate panicle, 10-65 cm long and 1-10 cm wide with tiny spikelets borne on short, slender, ascending, scabrid pedicels.
* Spikelets with 3-8 florets, ovate to oblong, light green, 1.3-2.2 mm long and 0.6-1 mm wide, 4-9-flowered, glabrous. Glumes sub equal, ovate to elliptical, 0.4-0.7 mm long with a scabrid keel. Lemmas elliptical, hyaline, 0.7 mm long, with a clear lateral nerve. Caryopsis elliptical, 0.3-0.6 mm long.
Vernacular names: Gaouri-soli (foulbé) Eaux et Forêts 20.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Congo and C, NE, E and southern Africa, Russia, eastwards into tropical Asia; introduced in the Americas.