Annual, slender. Culms erect, branched, 20–70 cm tall. Leaves mostly cauline; leaf sheaths glabrous, occasionally ciliate on the margins; leaf blades linear, flat, 7–20 × 0.2–0.6 cm, glabrous, base tapering, apex acute or acuminate; ligule ca. 1 mm, a ciliolate membrane. Panicles axillary or terminal, ovate or oblong in outline, usually scarcely exserted from the uppermost sheath, 5–15 cm, moderately branched. Spikelets ovate, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous, upper glume and lower lemma divergent at maturity; lower glume ovate, 1/2–3/4 length of spikelet, 3-veined, acuminate or cuspidate; upper glume ovate, as long as spikelet, 3–5-veined acuminate; lower floret barren, lemma similar to upper glume, palea present; upper floret pale yellow, smooth, shiny. Fl. and fr. Aug–Dec. 2n = 18.