Indian Forester 74: 90 (1948).- Type: Moris, Sardinia (holo- TO).
Catapodium tuberculosum Moris, Atti Riunione Sci. 2: 481 (1841)
Regional litterature: Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 17, fig (1995); Fl. Libya: 50 (1988); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 122 (2015).
Description:
* Annual of 0.5-1 m high. Culms decumbent. Leaves linear, 10-25 cm long and 1-7 mm wide, rough on both sides; ligule an eciliate membrane; sheath auricles falcate.
* Inflorescence 15-20 cm long, composed of 1-5 stiff racemes along a central axis of 0-8 cm long. Racemes unbranched or with a few spreading branches at the base, unilateral, semiterete, 3-10 cm long with spikelets solitary, subsessile, appressed and broadside.
* Spikelets with 6-12 fertile florets and diminished florets towards the tip, breaking up below each fertile floret, oblong, 8-11 mm long. Glumes similar, lanceolate, coriaceous, 3-veined, the lower 3-3.5 mm and the upper 4.5-5 mm long. Lemmas oblong, 4.5 mm long, chartaceous, 5-veined, tuberculate. Anthers 3, 0.3-0.6 mm long. Caryopsis ovoid.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan (Red Sea hills).
Distribution world-wide: Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya and NE Africa, S Europe, W and S Asia.
Note: Readily separated from Lolium by the conspicuous scabrid tuberculate lemmas and by the presence of the lower glume.