Brachiaria distachya (L.) Stapf

Creeping annual; culms 5–20 cm. high, ascending from a prostrate base.. Leaf-blades broadly linear to narrowly lanceolate, 2–8 cm. long, 3–7 mm. wide.. Inflorescence of 2–3 racemes on an axis 0.5–2 cm. long; racemes 1–3 cm. long, bearing the spikelets on a narrowly winged rhachis.. Spikelets narrowly elliptic, 2.4–3 mm. long, glabrous, acute; lower glume 1/3–1/2 as long as the spikelet, clasping; upper glume separated from the lower by a short internode; upper lemma rugulose, bluntly acute.

Open sandy places, inundated fields, riverbanks; at elevations to 20 metres. Sandy soils in disturbed places, along roads and railway lines in Eucalypt forest, dune forest, various types of woodland and shrubland.

Can be grown by seedlings.