Annual. Culms erect, slender, 30–100 cm tall, 3–4-noded, smooth or scaberulous below inflorescence. Leaf blades linear, up to 25 cm × 1–6 mm, adaxial surface smooth or scabrid, abaxial surface smooth, margins scaberulous near apex, young blades rolled; auricles to 2 mm or absent; ligule to 2.5 mm, truncate. Raceme straight, 6–20 cm, slender; rachis smooth, spikelets their own length or more apart. Spikelets 0.8–1.6 cm, florets 5–10; glume linear-lanceolate, 1/2–2/3 as long as spikelet, 3–7-veined, apex obtuse or acute; lemmas elliptic, plump, 3.5–5.4 mm, apex rounded, erose, usually awnless; palea spinulose along upper keels. Caryopsis length 2–3 times width. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug. 2n = 14.