Corispermum dilutum (Kitag.) C.P.Tsien & C.G.Ma

Plants 10-30 cm tall. Stem erect, green or lower part purplish, terete, branched from base; lower branches ascending or prostrate, upper ones obliquely spreading. Leaves linear, 2.5-4.5 cm × 2-6 mm, 1-veined, sparsely hairy, base attenuate, apex acute, mucronate. Spikelike inflorescence obovoid or clavate, crowded, 3-10 × 1-1.5 cm; bracts lanceolate to ovate, 1-2 cm × 4-6 mm, 3-veined, base rounded, margin membranous, distinctly papillate, apex acute. Perianth segments 3, upper one broadly elliptic or suborbicular, ca. 1.2 mm, apex rounded, irregularly toothed, lower segments triangular, smaller. Stamens 3-5. Utricle yellow-green, brown punctate, obovate, 3.5-4.5 × 3-4 mm, with vesicular processes, glabrous or pubescent, base cordate or subcordate, apex distinctly emarginate; wing light yellow, ca. 0.7 mm wide, margin irregularly denticulate or entire; beak ca. 0.8 mm, apex 1/3-1/2 as long as beak. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

It is a temperate plant. In China it grows on dunes and sandy places near rivers.

The seeds are eaten as a grain.