Tufted, shortly rhizomatous perennial up to 150 cm high, the nodes glabrous; basal sheaths breaking up into fibres; leaves flat or inrolled, acuminate. Panicle contracted, spike-like, cylindrical, 5–35 cm long, the bristles fulvous, the rhachis tomentellous; bristles 1.5–12 mm long. Spikelets elliptic, 1.5–3.5 mm long; lower glume up to 1/2 the length of the spikelet; upper glume 1/3–2/3(–3/4) the length of the spikelet, 3- to 5-nerved; lower floret male; upper lemma rugose.
Range
N1; S3 tropical Africa
Altitude range
up to c. 1500 m.
Distribution
SOMALIA Drake-Brockman 567; Peveling 228.
Distribution (external)
Arabia
Notes
Daraas (Som.). A polyploid complex that is apparently uncommon in our area. The complexity of the group is discussed by Hacker, in Austral. J. Bot. 16: 539–544, 551–554 (1968), and Clayton in Kew Bull. 33: 503–506 (1979). The infraspecific taxa recognised by these authors are not all that distinct, but Somali material seems to correspond well with var. aurea (A. Braun) Clayton.
