Syst. Veg. Mant. 2: 269 (1824).- Type: Bonplandt s.n., Venezuela (iso- BAA).
Oplismenus crus-pavoni Kunth in Humb. & Bonpl., Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 108 (1815)
Regional litterature: Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 140 (1934); FWTA: 440 (1972); Ghana grasses: 141 (1977); FTEA: 556 (1982); Gram. Togo: 201 (1983); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,3: 52 (1989); Gram. Cameroun: 247 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 201 (2006); Poac. CI:366, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 213, fig (1995); Poac. Niger: 406, fig. (1999); Pl. Vasc. Guiné-Bissau: 166 (2006); Fl. Guinea Bissau: 136 (2008); Fl. Guinée: 457 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 82 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 127 (2015)
Description:
* Erect annual marsh grass with stout spongy culm, ascending or straight, and rooting at the lower nodes, up to 1.5-2 m high. Culms spongy, rooting from lower nodes. Leaves long linear, glabrous, 25-50 cm long and 10-20 mm broad, finely nerved with a prominent white midrib, and scabrid margins; base somewhat narrowed and passing more or less directly into the sheath; ligule absent; sheath glabrous. Roots stout, abundant.
* Inflorescence a large panicle, often drooping, of 10-30 cm long with 8-30 racemes of 5-10 cm long, arranged on a central axis; some racemes with secondary branching and clustered spikelets.
* Spikelets elliptical, reddish to dark brown, 2.5-4 mm long. Lower glume half as long as spikelet; upper glume and lower lemma scabrous with a mid nerve slightly carinated. Lower lemma usually with a short awn up to 2 mm long; upper lemma glossy white to green, acuminated.
Distribution West Africa: Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, E and southern Africa, Asia; introduced in the Americas.
Note: A segregate from E. crus-galli, distinguished by small spikelets and a large inflorescence whose racemes bear copious secondary branchlets.