Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 822 (1894).- Type: Schimper s.n., Ethiopia, Gapdia (holo- P).
Sporobolus panicluatus sensu Wickens, non (Trin.) Dur. & Schinz.
Regional litterature: Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 145, fig (1995); Fl Zambesiaca 10,2: 170 (1999); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 1478 (2015).
Description:
* Delicate, loosely caespitose annual of up to 60 cm high. Culms erect, unbranched. Leaves linear, flat, 1.5-9 cm long and 2-5 mm broad, glabrous, pectinate on the margins with tubercle based hairs among raised marginal glands, tip acute; sheaths chartaceous, loosely pilose above and round the margins.
* Inflorescence lanceolate to narrowly oblong panicle of 5-20 cm long; branches in a succession of whorls, smooth with elongated viviscid glandular patches, the spikelets 2-3 on secondary branchlets or 6-10 (3-15) directly on primary branches.
* Spikelets narrowly elliptic, 1-2 mm long, dark reddish. Lower glume 0.8-1.5 mm long, lanceolate, nerveless, glabrous, acute to acuminate; upper glume about as long as spikelet, elliptic, 1-nerved, glabrous, acute. Lemma as long as spikelet, elliptic. Anthers 3, 0.3-0.5 mm long, medium brown. Grain elliptic, 0.7-1.2 mm long.
Note: S. micranthus belongs to a complex of very similar and intergrading species.
Distribution West Africa: Sudan (FEE: Nigeria, Burkina Faso).
Distribution world-wide: Ethiopia and Eritrea, Tanzania and southern Africa.