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Tufted perennial, 0.3-1.0 m high; rhizome sometimes present; base silky woolly-hairy; culms unbranched. Leaf blade 70-240 x 2-9 mm; ligule a minutely fimbriate membrane, with long hairs at back. Inflorescence of digitate racemes; pedicels and internodes stout, oblong to slightly clavate, ciliate with hairs up to 3.5 mm long on one margin and few short hairs on other; spikelets paired: one sessile, the other pedicelled. Sessile spikelet 9-16 mm long; lower glume keels broadly winged except at base, flat, apex bidentate, often awned between teeth, back glabrous or minutely hairy; upper glume awned, awn 4-10 mm long. Florets 2; lower floret reduced to a lemma, awnless; upper floret bisexual, lemma lobed to middle, awn 15-30 mm long, geniculate, glabrous or with very short hairs, column twisted; callus 1-2 mm long, oblong. Pedicellate spikelet shorter, 6-11 mm long, lower glume bidentate, awn 3-9 mm long; upper glume awn ± 2 mm long. Flowering time Jan.-June.
Tufted perennial, the basal sheaths silky pubescent below; culms 25–100 cm. high.. Leaf-blades 7–20 cm. long, 1–5 mm. wide.. Racemes paired, terminal, 4–14 cm. long; internodes and pedicels stoutly linear to slightly clavate, ciliate, ± cupuliform at the tip.. Sessile spikelet 8–16 mm. long, including a large oblong callus 1–2 mm. long; lower glume lanceolate, slightly convex to slightly concave on the back, herbaceous to thinly coriaceous, evenly 7–11-nerved between the lateral keels, glabrous to pubescent, winged on the keels for 1/2–2/3 of their length, the wings membranous and confluent to a caudate asymmetrically bidentate tip; upper glume with an awn 4–10 mm. long; upper lemma bilobed to the middle, with an awn 1.5–3 cm. long.. Pedicelled spikelet lanceolate, 6–11 mm. long, herbaceous, bidentate, with a slender bristle 3–9 mm. long.. Fig. 180/1, p. 769.
Perennial; up to 1 m high; rhizomatous and tufted; base with silky hairs. Leaf blades 70-200 x 2-4 mm. Flowers: inflorescence digitate; spike-like; racemes 2 per spathe; pedicels stout; slightly clavate; with one margin long hairy sessile spikelets 9-16 mm long; pedicellate spikelets shorter; lower glume of sessile spikelets flat on back; broadly winged on upper 1/3; apex bidentate; often awned; glabrous; glumes purplish; upper lemma awn 15-30 mm long.
Racemes in terminal pairs, 6–6.5 cm long (up to 10.5 cm outside the Flora Zambesiaca area), cylindrical, clearly exserted from the spatheoles only at maturity; peduncles longer than the racemes; internodes and pedicels slightly clavate, ciliate with hairs up to 3.5 mm long on one margin and a few short hairs on the other (particularly noticeable on the internodes).
Sessile spikelet 11–12 mm long, obtuse at the base, inserted in the internode apex; inferior glume with a shallow median groove, asymmetrically winged, 2-toothed at the apex; superior glume ± flat on the back and with an awn 6–7 mm long; superior lemma bifid in the upper 2/3; awn 23–26 mm long, geniculate; anthers 2.5–3 mm long, straw-coloured.
Perennial, rhizomatous and tufted, up to 1 m high, base with silky hairs. Leaf blades 70-200 mm long, 2-4 mm wide. Spikelets (sessile) 9-11 mm long (pedicellate shorter). Racemes 2 per spathe, pedicels stout, slightly clavate; lower glume of sessile spikelets flat on back, broadly winged on upper third, tip bidentate, often awned.
Leaf sheaths glabrous; ligule a very short (c. 1 mm) minutely fringed membrane; laminas 7–24 cm × 2–9 mm, loosely pilose, flat, tapering to a fine point at the apex.
Pedicelled spikelet male, 9–9.5 mm long; inferior glume with an awn c. 6 mm long; superior glume with an awn c. 2 mm long; superior lemma bidentate at the apex.
Spikelets similar; inferior glumes asymmetrically beaked, with two broad (0.5 mm) marginal wings, pubescent; superior glumes awned.
Slightly decumbent caespitose perennial; culms c. 90 cm high, unbranched.
Perennial, 30–75 cm high.
