Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1936: 313 (1936).- Type: Glanville 337, Sierra Leone, Mamuria-Kulufaga (syn- K), Glanville 100, Sierra Leone, Fotana (syn- K).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 499 (1972).
Description:
* Perennial of 1-1.2 m high. Culms decumbent or prostrate, 2.5-3 mm diameter, robust, rooting from the lower nodes. Leaveslanceolate, 4.5-9 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, amplexicaul and hairy at the base, margins scabrous; ligule an eciliate membrane of 1 mm long; sheaths glabrous or pilose.
* Inflorescence a loose spathate panicle of 20-45 cm long composed of terminal and axillary single racemes. Spatheole lanceolate, 2-3 cm long, membranous, brownish red; peduncle 0.4-1.8 cm long, pubescent above. Racemes ragile, with 5-10 fertile spikelets; rhachis internodes linear, 1.5 mm long; spikelets closely packed. Pedicels filiform, 2 mm long, ciliate.
* Sessile spikelets fertile, lanceolate, 3.5-4 mm long; callus square, hairy on the sides. Lower glume elliptic, coriaceous, keel-less; upper glume bifid with an awn of 1-3 mm long. Lower lemma oblong, 3=3.5 mm long, hyaline; upper lemma linear, 2.5-3 mm long, bifid halfway with a geniculate awn of 12-16 mm from the sinus; column twisted, glabrous. Anthers 3. 2 mm long. Pedicelled spikelets male, oblong, 3.5-4 mm long.
Distribution West Africa and world-wide: Guinea, Sierra Leone.