Descr. Egypte, Hist. Nat.: 157 (1813).- Type: Forskohl s.n., s.l. (holo- BM).
Poa aegyptiaca Willdeman, Enum. Pl.: 107 (1809);
Eragrostis aegyptiaca ssp. humifusa H. Scholz, Willdenowia 26: 231 (1996).- Type: Léonard 4859, Sudan (iso- MO,WAG);
Eragrostis albida Hitchc., J. Wash. Acad. Science 19: 304 (1929).- Type: Hitchcock 107, Tombouctou, Mali (holo- US, iso- C);
Eragrostis minima Jedwabn, Bot. Arch. 5: 188 (1924).- Type: Schweinfurth 918, Petenaam, Sudan (syn- K,B);
Eragrostis nigerica A. Chev., Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. 20: 470 (1948).- Type: A. Chevalier 1093, San, Mali (syn- P, BR).
Regional litterature: FWTA: 391 (1972); Fl. Mauritania: 455 (1991); Pl. Mauritanie: 282 (1998); Poaceae Niger: 197, fig. (1999); Pl. Burkina Faso: 80 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 129 (2015).
Description:
* Annual in tufts with a small root system, 10-30 cm tall, sometimes creeping with small panicles. Culms erect or decumbent. Leaves in small basal tufts, 7-12 cm long and 1-3 mm wide with a few long white hairs; ligule a fring of long white hairs, 3-4 mm long.
* Inflorescence an open panicle of 6-15 cm long and 2 cm wide, embraced by the upper sheath; branches ascending, scaberulous and spikelets pedicelled on secondary branches from the base.
* Spikelets with 5-16 florets, linear, 5.5-8 mm long and 1-1.5 mm wide, flattened, glabrous. Glumes scabrid on the keel, lanceolate, lower 0.7 mm long; upper 1-1.3 mm long, 1-veined. Lemma light greenish brown, sometimes a reddish brown in the middle, 1.5-1.7 mm long and 0.6 mm wide, membranous, one vein on both sides of mid vein and a narrow hyaline margin; mid vein scabrid; palea 1.2mm long, with short glassy hairs on the margins. Grain light brown, ovate and flattened, 0.6 mm long and 0.3 mm wide.
Distribution West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Algeria, Libya, Egypt.
Vernacular names: Soubcoré (Souraye).
Note: Very variable.