FTA 9: 363 (1919).- Type: Newton s.n., Angola (iso- K).
Andropogon newtonii Hack., Bol. Soc. Brot. 3: 137(1885);
Andropogon lecomtei Franch., Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun., 8: 329 (1895);
Hyparrhenia lecomtei (Franch.) Stapf, FTA 9: 361 (1919);
Hyparrhenia cirrulosa Stapf, FTA 9 : 365 (1919);
Hyparrhenia bisulcata Chiov., Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. N.S., 26 : 60 (1919).
Regional litterarure: Fl. Gabon 5: 187 (1962); FI. Nigeria: 97 (1970); FWTA: 494 (1972); Adansonia, sér. 2,18(1): 145 (1978); FTEA: 816, fig. 186 (1982); Fl. Rwanda: 292 (1988); Gram. Cameroun: 491 (1992); Fl. Zambesiaca: 128 (2002); Fl. Guinée: 462 (2009)
var. newtonii
Description:
* Caespitose perennial in dense tufts; but sheaths glabrous or woolly, 0.6-1.2 m high. Culms erect, with cauline leaves. Leaves linear, 15-30 cm long and 1.5-4 mm wide, stiff, glaucous, margins scabrous; ligule membranous, 1 mm long; sheaths glabrous to woolly.
* Inflorescence a narrow, loose spathate panicle of 15-30 cm long. Spatheoles glabrous or villous, 2.5-5 cm long, glabrous or villous on the margins; peducnles 2-4 cm long with yellow tubercle-based hairs. Racemes paired, 1.5-2 cm long with 1-2 fertile spikelets each, tardily deflexed; bases linear, unequal, the upper 1.5-4 mm long, stiffly setose with an appendage of 1-3 mm long. One pair of homogamous spikelets at the base of the lower raceme. Pedicels 4 mm long, pubescent with a terminal dent of 0.2-1.5 mm long.
* Sessile spikelets linear-oblong, 6-10 mm long, glabrous; callus cuneate, 1.5-2 mm long, pubescent. Lower glume coriaceous, keeled towards the tip, slightly grooved on either side of the midvein, glabrous or sometimes pubescent towards the tip. Upper lemma linear, membranous, 2-fid with a geniculate awn from the sinus. Awn 2-5.5 cm long, its column twisted, pubescent. Pedicelled spikelets 5-10 mm long with an awn of 1-5 mm long
Distribution West Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR.
Distribution world-wide: Gabon, Congo, DRC, Uganda, C, E and southern Africa, E Asia.