FTA 9: 36 (1917).- Type: Rottler 454, India (iso- K).
Andropogon nervosus Rottler, Neue Schriften Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 4: 218 (1803).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 750, fig. (1982); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 316, fig (1995); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 56, fig (2002); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 145 (2015).
Description:
* Tufted perennial 0.3-1 m high. Culms wiry. Leaves flat, 5-40 cm long and 2-7 mm wide, glaucous, long-acuminate to a filiform tip; ligule a fringe of hairs.
* Inflorescence a gently curved raceme of 3-12 cm long; rhachis fragile, flattened, ciliate on margins; internodes cuneate. Spikelets squeezed between internode and pedicel, in pairs. Pedicels cuneate, flattened, ciliate.
* Sessile spikelet lanceolate, 6-10 mm long, asymmetrical, laterally compressed. Lower glume oblong-elliptic, thinly coriaceous with a membranous tip of up to 1/4 its length, 2-keeled, concave between the keels, with 2-3 closely spaced nerves adjacent to each keel. Upper lemma lanceolate, 6 mm long incised for 1/3, with an awn of 2-4 cm long from the sinus, column minutely ciliolate, twisted. Pedicelled spikelet lanceolate, 6-10 mm long, purplish, ciliate; lower glume with a midnerve and 2-3 conspicuous lateral nerves adjacent to each keel.
Distribution West Africa: South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia and Uganda, and NE, E and southern Africa, tropical Asia up to New Guinea.