Annuals or short-lived perennials, loosely tufted, weakly stoloniferous. Culms 1 to several, clambering to erect with base geniculate, 30–70 cm tall, 0.5–1.5 mm in diam., smooth to retrorsely scabrid or hispidulous below nodes, nodes 3 or 4, 1–3 exserted. Leaf sheaths finely retrorsely scabrid to strigulose near the collars, lower ones often tinged with purple, 6–15 cm, 1.4–4 × as long as blade, uppermost closed for 2/5–1/2 of length; blades flat, thin, 3–10 cm × 1.5–3 mm, abaxially smooth, margins smooth or finely scabrid, adaxially scabrid, apex slender prow-tipped; ligule 0.8–1(–1.5) mm, abaxially scabrid or pilulose, apex truncate or obtuse, rounded, collar margins usually shortly ciliate or strigulose. Panicle open, narrow, 7–21 × 2–5 cm, longest internodes 3–6 cm; branches ascending to spreading or reflexed, flexuous, 2–4 per node, slender, proximally smooth to scabrid, distally scabrid, angled, longest 3–6 cm with 2–8 spikelets in distal 1/3–1/2. Spikelets ovate to oblong, pale green, 4–6 mm, florets 3–4(–5); vivipary absent; rachilla internodes 0.7–1.2 mm, smooth, glabrous; glumes unequal, slender, apex acuminate, upper keel scabrid, upper surfaces and edges smooth to scabrid, lower glume 1.8–3.2 mm, narrowly lanceolate, slightly convex to often sickle-shaped, 1-veined, upper glume 2.7–3.7 mm, 3-veined; lemmas lanceolate to oblong, thinly papery to papery, 3.2–4.4 mm, ca. 5 × as long as wide, apex acute to acuminate, sparsely scabrid along edge, keel shortly villous to pilulose for 2/3 of length, marginal veins to 1/2, intermediate veins prominent, areas between veins minutely bumpy, glabrous; callus densely webbed; palea distinctly shorter than lemma, smooth, glabrous, or pilulose between keels, keels scabrid throughout or infrequently medially shortly ciliate to pilulose, margins minutely bumpy and then membranous-papery. Anthers 0.6–1 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 28.
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