glabrous, annual; stems tufted, 2–7 in. long, slender, trigonous; leaves half as long as the stem, subsetaceous; head of 3–30 spikelets; rays 0– 1/3 in. long; bracts 2–3, setaceous, slightly dilated at the base, lowest up to 2 in. long, suberect; spikelets fascicled, 1/2 by 1/12 in., 26-flowered, or much smaller as in the examples described by Kunth, compressed, with parallel sides, dusky red; glumes boat-shaped, in fruit scarcely overlapping, ovate, obtuse, scarcely mucronate, strongly 5–7-ribbed; rhachilla not winged; stamens 2 or 1; nut small, 1/3– 2/5 the length of the glume, trigonous, obovoid, subobtuse, smooth, dull ashy black; style shorter than the nut; branches 3, linear, shortly exserted from the glume. null