Perennial; culms 05 to over 2 m high, stoloniferous, erect or ascending, occasionally rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous below the inflorescence. Leaf-blades flat, rarely involute, (15-)25-50 cm long, (1.5)3-9 mm wide, tapering towards the apex. Inflorescence of (5-)7-20 digitate, ascending to spreading spikes 4-15 cm long. Spikelets 34-flowered, 2-awned; lower glume 1.2-2.5 mm long; upper glume 2-4 mm long including the awn-point, lowest lemma lanceolate in side-view, 2.5-3.5 mm long, pallid, sparsely to densely ciliate on the margins and keel, the awn 2-10 mm long; callus rounded, ciliate; 2nd lemma projecting from the side of the lowest lemma, lanceolate, 1.5-3 mm long, ciliate on the margins (but often obscurely so), the awn 1.5-5.5 mm long; 3rd lemma reduced to a scabrid, oblong or clavate awnless scale 0.75-2.5 mm long; 4th lemma, if present, reduced to a clavate awnless scale less than 1 mm long.

Type: Senegal, Herb. Gay 21 & 40 (K).

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind & Punjab, introduced); from Senegal eastwards to the Sudan and south to South Africa, in open grassland and Savannah.

Rhodes’ Grass has been introduced into India and Pakistan where it is a valuable fodder grass. It is badly affected by frost.