Coarse robust annual up to 100 cm high; leaves linear, 15–50 cm x 2–8 mm, straight at the base. Panicle often incompletely exserted from the uppermost sheath, ovate to oblong, 25–40 cm long, the spikelets sparsely distributed on stiff wiry spreading or ascending branches. Spikelets narrowly ovate, 3.5–4.5 mm long, acuminate; lower glume ovate, 2/3–3/4 the length of the spikelet, 5-nerved, acuminate; upper lemma pallid, glossy.
