Description

A tufted annual grass, 30–60 cm high, in locations across the soudanian savanna from Senegal to N Nigeria.It is an early grass after annual burning and provides a little indifferent grazing (1, 2).Dagara people in Upper Volta use the grass in a prescription for treating a victim of snake-bite. The procedure involves fumigation by the strongly aromatic odour of the grass and may last up to 48 hours without break (3).Women in Mali use the dyed straw to plait into ear-rings (A. Chevalier fide2).The grass is parasitised by Striga, and may thus act as an indesirable host in the proximity of susceptible crops (4).