Annual; culms slender, weak, decumbent-spreading, rooting at the nodes, 15-50 cm., or sometimes as much as 1 m. long, with relatively long internodes, villous in a line on one side, otherwise glabrous or nearly so; sheaths much shorter than the internodes except on young shoots, densely villous on the margins, gla-brous or sparsely pilose on the back; blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, asymmetric at the somewhat clasping base, 2-6 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide, thin, with undulate margins, finely cross-veined, glabrous or sparsely hirsute on both surfaces, the margins finely scabrous; inflorescences terminal and axillary from the upper sheaths, the terminal rather long-exserted, the axillary usually partly enclosed, narrow, few-flowered, the branches short, appressed, or rarely spreading, villous in the axils; spikelets 3-3.5 mm. long, short-pedicellate, appres-sed, glabrous; first glume acute or acuminate, half to two-thirds as long as the spikelet, sometimes with an awn-point equalling or slightly exceeding the spikelet; second glume acuminate, slightly longer than the acute sterile lemma, the latter enclosing a well developed palea; fruit 2 mm. long, yellowish at maturity, wingless.
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