Annual with fibrous, reddish roots, or longer-lived in favourable circumstances. Stems slender, weak, solitary or tufted, triquetrous, smooth, (2-)5-40 cm by 1-2 mm. Leaves flat, gradually acuminate, smooth or scaberulous at the top, flaccid, 2-4 mm wide; lower sheaths bladeless or shortly laminate, scarious, stramineous to cinnamomeous. Inflorescence compound or decompound, relatively large, loose, 3-10 cm across. Involucral bracts 2-3, obliquely patent, the longest somewhat to conspicuously overtopping the inflorescence, up to 15(-25) cm. Primary rays 5-10, suberect to obliquely patent, slender, smooth, up to 10 cm, secondary ones 2-2½ mm, tertiary ones when present very short. Spikelets digitately arranged in clusters of 3-9, stellately spreading, oblong to linear, rather acute, compressed, 8-30(-50)-flowered, 3-8(-13) by 1-1½ mm; rachilla slightly flexuous, soon visible between the glumes, wingless, persistent; internodes c. ½ mm. Glumes membranous, ovate, slightly keeled towards the top, obtuse, soon excurved, ¾-1 by ½-¾ mm; keel green, 3-nerved; sides nerveless, hyaline, purplish lineolate or with a purplish spot on one side; midrib excurrent as a minute mucro just below the apex. Stamens 1(-2); anthers oblong, 1/5-2/5 mm, the short apical appendage of the connective smooth. Stigmas 3. Nut very obtusely trigonous with convex sides, subglobose or broadly obovoid or ellipsoid, distinctly broadly stipitate, not or hardly apiculate. densely tuberculate, marbly white, ¼-⅓(-2/5) by ¼-⅓ mm.
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Annuals. Roots fibrous. Culms tufted, 3-30 cm tall, flaccid, compressed triquetrous, smooth, base clothed with a few bladeless sheaths, apical sheaths with short blade. Leaves shorter than culm, 2-3 mm wide, flat; sheath reddish brown to purplish brown, 2-6 cm. Involucral bracts usually 2(or 3), leaflike, usually basalmost equaling or longer than inflorescence. Inflorescence a compound or sometimes simple anthela; rays 4-10, mostly to 7 cm, unequal in length, each with 2-9 raylets. Spikelets 3-12, digitately arranged at apex of raylets or rays, linear, 3-12 × ca. 1 mm, 10-40-flowered; rachilla wingless. Glumes dark brown on both surfaces but middle abaxially yellowish green, lax, elliptic to suboblong, 0.8-1 mm, membranous, slightly spreading after anthesis, veins inconspicuous, apex obtuse to truncate, slightly excurved, and muticous. Stamens 1 or 2; anthers not setose at apex. Style long; stigmas 3. Nutlet yellowish, obovoid, ca. 0.3 mm, tuberculate. Fl. and fr. Sep-Nov. 2n = 16.
Annual herb, up to 200 mm tall. Inflorescence an open anthela 30-100 mm in diameter with one sessile and several stalked groups of digitately arranged spikelets. Glumes greenish brown.
A diffuse inflorescence with rays often as long as the weak angular stems, and neat elliptical spikelets often 2 or 8 together
Weak annual 10–60 cm. high
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