Annual. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, 20–50 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous or scattered hirsute; leaf blades 10–20 cm × 2–5 mm, adaxial surface hairy. Panicle densely contracted, oblong or ovate in outline, sometimes interrupted, base wedge-shaped, top rounded, 4–7 × 2–3 cm, with many spikelets; branches very short, straight, spikelets subsessile. Spikelets oblong-lanceolate, 12–20 × 2–3 mm, florets 7–12, overlapping; rachilla internodes thick, ca. 1 mm, not exposed; glumes lanceolate, margins membranous, lower glume 4–5 mm, 3-veined, upper glume 5–7 mm, 5–7-veined; lemmas oblanceolate, 7–8(–10) × ca. 1 mm in side view, 7-veined, glabrous or pubescent, margins and apex membranous, apex 2-toothed, teeth 1.3–2.5 mm, acute, awned from sinus; awn 7–10 mm, slightly flattened at base, recurved at maturity; palea slightly shorter than lemma, keels ciliate. Anthers 0.3–0.6 mm. Fl. May–Jul. 2n = 14.