Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 24: 334 (1897).- Type: Mechow 462, Angola, Malange (syn- W), Eyles 3404, Zimbabwe, Salisbury (syn- BOL).
Tristachya longispiculata C.E.Hubbard, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1934: 263 (1934);
Tristachya welwitschii Rendle, Cat. Afr. Pl. 2: 217 (1899).
Regional litterature: FTEA: 426, fig 115 (1974).
Description:
* Densely tufted perennial; culms 60-150 cm. high, robust, 1-3-noded; basal sheaths woolly tomentose. Leaf-blades flat, 10-40 cm. long, 2-5 mm. wide.
* Inflorescence a narrowly ovate panicle of 8-25 cm. long, moderately dense, comprising 5-30 triads, each borne at the end of a slender branch; of up to 11 cm. Pedicels connate.
* Spikelets narrowly lanceolate, 16-30 mm long, straw-coloured to brownish, the lower glume ciliate from black tubercles near the margin, very rarely glabrous. Lower glume narrowly lanceolate, as long as the spikelet, acuminate to a filiform tip; upper glume very narrowly lanceolate, usually a little shorter than the spikelet. Upper lemma 6-8 mm. long, pubescent, bilobed, with a submarginal row of short white bristles on each side, the lobes drawn out into bristles 7-15 mm long; awn 3.5-5 cm. long, deciduous with the lateral lobes attached; callus 2 mm. long, pubescent.
Distribution West Africa: CAR.
Distribution world-wide: DRC, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia and southern Africa.