Annuals, 9-20 cm, with culms often much-branched near base, faintly coumarin-scented. Leaf-sheath submembranous, strongly ribbed, sometimes sparsely villous above. Collar hairs long, in small lateral tufts. Ligule 0.7-2 mm, glabrous, tapering, becoming erose. Leaf-blade 1-5.5 cm × 1-2.5 mm, thin, scabrid, sometimes sparsely hairy, tip narrow, subacute. Culm erect or spreading, branched, almost filiform, internodes glabrous. Panicle 1.5-2.4 × 0.5-1.2 cm, ovate-or lanceolate-oblong, rather lax or more dense, with few to numerous spikelets; rachis glabrous, branches and pedicels very short, scabrid or minutely hairy. Spikelets 5.5-7 mm, green or brownish green. Glumes glabrous, acute to acuminate, keels green, thickened, sparsely scabrid; lower ½-⅔ length of upper, 1-nerved, ovate, upper > florets and enclosing them, 3-nerved, elliptic-ovate. Ø florets: lemma 2.6-3.5 mm, 4-5-nerved, oblong, firmer and brown below with rather stiff silky hairs, apex glabrous, hyaline, bilobed, or entire and shortly toothed; awn of lower floret 3.6-4.6 mm, fine, ± straight, inserted above midpoint, awn of second floret 7-8.8 mm, stouter, geniculate, inserted near base, dark brown in lower ½, projecting beyond spikelet; palea 0 in both florets. ☿ floret: lemma 1.5-1.8 mm, 5-nerved, firmly membranous, orbicular, brown, shining, glabrous; palea = lemma; anthers c. 3 mm; caryopsis 1.1-1.3 × 0.6-0.7 mm.
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Annuals. Culms slender, 55–65 cm high, 4–7-noded, branched above and rooting at lower nodes. Young shoots intravaginal. Leaves: blade to 5.5 cm long, to 2.3 mm wide, with veins equally prominent. Inflorescences 15–35 mm long. Spikelets pedicellate, 5.1–6.8 mm long. Glumes: lower glume 3.4–3.8 mm long; upper glume 5.9–6.3 mm long, with midnerve papillose. Sterile florets: lemmas 2.5–3 mm long, truncate, with long straight golden hairs in lower 2/3 only and not on colourless lobes; lemma awns dorsal, arising c. 1/3 of lemma length from apex of basal lemma and from near base of second lemma, markedly unequal, scabrid; awn of basal lemma 3.6–3.8 mm long, straight; awn of second lemma 7.4–7.6 mm long, geniculate, with twisted pigmented column. Bisexual floret: lemma 1.6–1.8 mm long, broad, completely enclosing palea; palea slightly shorter than lemma, elliptic, chartaceous.
Annual 1–6 dm; culms geniculate and decumbent, branched above; lvs seldom as much as 2 mm wide; ligules 0.5–2 mm; infl 1.5–4 cm; glumes glabrous, the first one with an awn 1 mm; awns of the sterile lemmas geniculate and protruding from the glumes; fertile lemma 1–1.5 mm; 2n=10. A European sp. intr. in waste places here and there nearly throughout our range. (A. puelii)
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