annual; culms geniculate, ascending or suberect, 1–2 ft. high, glabrous, smooth, 3–4-noded, lower and intermediate internodes usually enclosed; leaves more or less spreadingly hairy or the blades subglabrous; sheaths tight, thin, strongly striate; ligules hyaline, delicate, 1/2–1 lin. long, denticulate; blades linear, acute, 3–5 in. by 2–3 lin., flat, strongly striate, scarcely flaccid; panicle oblong to linear-oblong, contracted, erect, rather dense, 2–3 in. long; axis striate, scabrid to scaberulous or almost smooth below; branches 3–6-nate, nearly always 1-spiculate, unequal, 2–4 lin. long, rarely longer, scabrid to coarsely pubescent, erect; spikelets oblong, greyish-green, 6–10 lin. by 2 1/2–3 lin., erect, crowded, closely 9–13-flowered; rhachilla joints 1/2 lin. long, subclavate, stout, scabrid; glumes unequal, oblong in profile, rather broad, acute, herbaceous except at the narrow membranous margins, pubescent to villous; lower 2 1/2–3 lin. long, 5- to sub-5-nerved, upper 3–4 lin. long, 7-nerved; valves rather narrow, oblong, about 4 lin. long, pubescent to villous, 7-nerved; margins almost straight to 3/4 of the length from the base, then gradually curved or turned in at a distinct obtuse angle to the broad 2-toothed hyaline tips; awn from close to the tip, fine, scabrid, straight or finally divaricate, 2 1/2–3 1/2 lin. long; callus very short; pales somewhat shorter than the valves, keels distinctly ciliate; stamens 3; anthers 1/2 lin. long; ovary glabrous below the appendage, front lobe of appendage entire, hind lobe very minute; grain linear, about as long as the pale, strongly convexo-concave. null