Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 2: 94 (1969).- Type: Figari s.n., Sudan (holo- FI).
Cymbopogon figarianus Chiov., Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1917: 59 (1917);
Andropogon figarianus Chiov., Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1917: 59 (1917) in synon.;
Andropogon filipendulus Höchst, var. calvescens Hack., in DC, Mon. Phan. 6: 635 (1889).- Type: Schweinfurt 2421, Sudan (lecto- K, isolecto- P);
Hyparrhenia barteri (Hack.) Stapf var. calvescens (Hack.) Stapf, FTA 9: 322 (1919).
Regional litterature: FI. Nigeria: 96 (1970); FWTA: 494 (1972); FTEA: 802 (1982); Gram. Cameroun: 480 (1992); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 133 (2015).
Description:
* Annual of 0.3-2 m high, sometimes in small tufts. Culms erect, weak, 1-5 mm diameter at the base, glabrous. Leaves linear, 0.15-30 cm long and 2-4 mm wide, scaberulous; ligule a membrane of 0.7-2 mm long, with some long hairs; sheaths glabrous or sparsely pilose on the margins.
* Inflorescence a narrow reddish spatheolate panicle of 0.15-0.6 m long and 3-5 cm wide, in 2-5 tiers, the successive tiers densely fasigiate. Spatheoles linear 3-7 cm long, reddish brown; peduncles half as long as spatheole with spreading white hairs towards the tip. Racemes paired, not deflexed, 1-1.2 cm long, 2-awned per pair, yellowish green, laterally excerted; bases unequal, the upper 5-7 mm long, glabrous. One pair of homogamous spikelets at the base of the lower raceme, two pairs at the base of the upper raceme.
* Sessile spikelets lanceolate, 6-10 mm long including the pungent callus of 2-3 mm long, callus with short white hairs. Lower glume glabrous, the back rounded or often obscurely hollowed along the median line. Upper lemma 3 mm long, bifid with a bigeniculate yellow brown awn of 5-7.5 cm long, the column hirtellus with fulvous hairs. Pedicelled spikelets linear lanceolate, green to reddish, 6-7 mm long with a bristle of 1-4 mm long; pedicel hairy with tooth 0.2 mm long. Homogamous spikelets lineair lanceolate, 5-8 mm long.
Note: Spikelets usually glabrous but sometimes shortly pilose with white or light-fulvous hairs.
Distribution West Africa: Nigeria, Cameroon, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Congo, DRC, Uganda, and Burundi and Tanzania.