Gaz. N.W. Ind.: 392 (1882).- Type:Hardwicke s.n., Calcutta, India (holo- BM).
Andropogon martini Roxb., Fl. India 1: 280 (1820);
Cymbopogon caesius var. martini (Roxb.) Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 7: 204 (1896).
Regional litterature: Fl. Afr. Centrale: 356 (1913).
Description:
* Caespitose perennial with a rootstock of 1.5-3 m high. Culms erect, nodes swollwn. Leaves linear or lanceolate, 15-30 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, glaucous, aromatic, margins scabrous, tip filiform; ligule a membrane of 1.5-4 mm long.
* Inflorescence a a dense linear spathate panicle of 15-30 cm long. Spatheoles lanceolate or elliptic, 2-4 cm long, red; peduncle pubescent at the tip. Racemes in pairs, deflexed, 1.5-2 cm long; rhachis fragile; internodes and pedicels linear; bases flattened, subequal. One pair of homogamous spikelets at the base of the lower raceme.
* Sessile spikelets oblong, 4-4.5 cm long; callus obtuse. Lower glume lanceolate, chartaceous, 2-keeled all along and winged narrowly, a V-shaped depression in the middle; upper glume lanceolate, 1-keeled. Lemmas hyaline; upper lemma incised to half with a glabrous geniculate awn of 12-18 mm from the sinus. Pedicelled spikelets well-developed, 4 mm long, male, acute. Homogamous spikelets similar, basal pedicel swollen.
Distribution West Africa: Introduced in CAR.
Distribution world-wide: South Asia, introduced in Egypt, Brazil.