FTA 9: 740 (1920).- Type : Chevalier 4034, Congo (syn- P); Chevalier 6092, CAR (syn- P); Vanderyst 2855, DRC (syn- K).
Regional litterature: Fl. Agr. Congo Belge 2: 80 (1934); FWTA: 445 (1972); FTEA: 573 (1982); Gram. Cameroun: 237 (1992); Fl. Guinée: 458 (2009); Fl. Chad (2013).
Description:
* Perennial, ascending or floating, 1-2 m high, sometimes in a compact mass. Culms rooting at the lower nodes, climbing., internodes 3-6.5 mm long. Leaves lanceolate, 7-20 cm long and 6-16 mm wide, narrower at the base, glbrous, margins scabrous ; sheats large, longer than the internodes ; ligule a narrow line of hairs of 0.2 mm long.
* Inflorescence an open panicle 11-20 cm long, sparsely branched. Bales branches with secondary and tertiary branchlets of 0.5-1 cm long in regular distances. Spikelets pedicelled, up to 13 per raceme. Tip of the pedicel discoid.
* Spikelets elliptical-lanceolate, 2.5-3 mm long, appressed to the rhachis. Lower glume very short, lanceolate, margins hyaline; upper glume ovate, 5-nerved, as long as spikelet, margins hyaline.Lower lemma 5-nerved, as long as spikelet, without palea; upper lemma 3-nerved, 1.5 mm long, villous.
Distribution West Africa: Guinea, Cameroon, Chad, CAR, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Uganda, DRC and C Africa and Tanzania.