Syn. Pl. Glum. 1 : 278 (1854).- Type: Swartz, S-R-5002, Caribean (holo- S).
Poa prolifera Sw., Prodr. 27 (1788);
Poa domingensis Pers., Syn. Pl. 1: 88 (1805).- Poiteau s.n., St Domingo, Dominican Republic ();
Eragrostis domingensis (Pers.) Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 278 (1854) ;
Poa linearis Schumach., Beskr. Guin. Pl. 67 (1827).- Type: Thonning s.n., Ghana (holo- C) ;
Eragrostis linearis (Svhumach.) Benth., in W.J. Hooker, Niger Fl. 567 (1849);
Eragrostis hagerupii Hitchc., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 23: 92 (1930).- Type: Vogel s.n., Nigeria (holo- K);
Eragrostis pallescens Hitchc. J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 19: 303 (1929).- Type: Hagerup s.n., Nigeria (holo- K).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 391 (1972); Ghana grasses: 151 (1977); Gram. Togo: 215 (1983); Fl. Mauritania: 455 (1991); Poac. CI: 140, fig. (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 283 (1998); Fl. Bénin: 206 (2006)
Description:
* Coarse distinctly branched perennial bunchgrass, erect or sometimes geniculately ascending, up to 1.2 m high. Culms hard, rigid, green. Leaves rising mostly from the culms, often in rolled and filiform, glabrous and somewhat glaucous, 16-25 cm long and 1-3 mm wide, with scabrid margins, base slightly hairy, passing straight into the sheaths; ligule a fringe of hairs rim; sheath glabrous, shoulders slightly hairy. Roots coarse robust, extensive clothed in dense hairy sheaths encrusted with particles of sand.
* Inflorescence a long, narrow, well branched panicle, linear to lanceolate, 10-35 cm long, the slender flexuous branches of up to 12 cm ascending closely to the axis. Numerous spikelets borne on slender pedicels of 3-5 mm long.
* Spikelets linear, brownish-green, 3-5.5 mm long and 1.5 mm broad; 4-8 florets. Lower glume ovate, 1-1.2 mm long. Lemmas contiguous, free from the adjacent lemma for much of their length ovate, 1.3-1.7 mm long, membranous, mid-green to dark brown, keeled; palea remain on the rhachis after the lemmas fall down.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger and Nigeria.
Distribution world-wide: DRC, Angola and tropical America.