Sp. Gram. Stip. 152 (1842 ).-Type: Leprieur s.n., Senegal (holo- P).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 379 (1972); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 81 (1995); Poaceae Niger: 160, fig. (1999); Pl. Burkina Faso: 70 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 119 (2015).
Description:
* Caespitose annual of 15-30 cm long. Culms wiry; internodes glabrous. Leaves flat or folded, 4-10 cm long and 1-2 mm wide; ligule a fringe of hairs
* Inflorescence an open linear panicle of 5-10 cm long. Spikelets solitary, pedicelled.
* Spikelets lanceolate, subterete, green tinged with brown, 20-30 mm long; callus elongated, 2 mm long, pilose, pungent. Glumes persistent, membranous, attenuate; lower glume linear, 20-30 mm long and ; upper glume linear, 17-25 mm long. Lemma elliptic, subterete, 4 mm long, coriaceous, scabrous, rough above, convolute and covering most of palea, acute with a deciduous 3-branched scabrid awn abscissing from top of lemma; awn with 35-55 mm long central branch with twisted column of (2-)3-4.5 mm long; lateral branches 35-45 mm long, subequal to principal.