annual; culms tufted, erect or ascending, geniculate, 1–3 ft. long, glabrous, finely striate, 4–7-noded; internodes gradually longer from the base, up to 5 in. long; sheaths shorter than the internodes, the lower tight, the uppermost more or less inflated, striate; ligule scarious, white, obtuse, 1–3 lin. long; blades linear, gradually tapering, 2–6 in. by 1 1/2–3 lin., flaccid, glabrous, smooth or almost so, margins slightly rough; panicle spike-like from subglobose to cylindric, up to 2 1/2 in. long, compact; rhachis and branches glabrous; spikelets obliquely elliptic, 2–2 1/2 lin. long; glumes subequal, 3-nerved, acute, glabrous, white, nerves green, keel serrulate, suddenly contracted below the apex; lower empty valve a minute callous scale; upper somewhat subulate, firmly membranous, hairy with a callous base, up to 3/4 lin. long; fertile valve scantily silky; pale ciliate on the back, obscurely 2-nerved or almost nerveless; anthers 1/2– 5/8 lin. long; grain 7/8 lin. long. null
