Kew Bull. 1936: 310 (1936).- Type: Glanville 240, Sierra Leone (holo- K).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 390 (1972): Ghana grasses: 150 (1977); Gram. Cameroun: 134 (1992).
Description:
* Stout erect perennial bunchgrass, branched or simple, 1-1.8 m high. Culms herbaceous, stout with dark constricted nodes. Leaves erect, sometimes obliquely spreading, long linear into filiform point, rolled and glabrous, 10-40 cm long and 2-4 mm broad, with scabrid margins; ligule a fringe of hairs; sheath glabrous to sparsely hairy, the margins hairy especially towards the apex.
* Inflorescence an open or contracted ovate to oblong panicle, 3-25 cm long and 2-12 cm wide, usually bearing black glands on the branches and pedicels; branches up to 17 cm long; pedicels hair-like, 5-20 mm long.
* Spikelets ovate to oblong, light brown, 10-40 florets, 5-15 mm long and 3-4.5 mm wide. Lower glume 2 mm, the upper glume 2.5 mm, falling off early. Lemmas shortly acute, grey, 2-2.6 mm, firmly chartaceous; lemmas and paleas disarticulate at the same time. Anthers 3, 1-1.5 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid, pubescent, 0.9 mm long and 0.3 mm wide.
Distribution West Africa: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cameroon.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, Gabon and E Africa.