Leaves all in basal rosettes, living at anthesis, sessile or with very short petiole; blade entire, oblanceolate, 15-35 × 5-10 cm, leathery, base tapered gradually to narrow or broad wing, margins entire, apex rounded, cuspidate, cusp 1-2 mm, soon falling; main lateral veins pinnate. Inflores-cences: axes broadly 2-3-winged, to 100+ cm × 8 mm, glabrous or pubescent (hairs ca. 0.2 mm), wings to ca. 7 mm wide, leaflike, net-veined, variable in width, interrupted at branch points, leaflike appendages absent; nonflowering branches absent; spikelets moderately to densely aggregated at tips of branches, internodes mostly 3-8 mm; subtending bracts 5-7 mm, acute to truncate at tips, margins and surfaces glabrous or often densely pubescent or fimbriate; flowers 1-2 per spikelet. Flowers: calyx blue-purple in distal 1/ 2, with reddish brown, short-pubescent ribs, funnelform; tube 5-6 mm, expanded portion 5-7 mm, lobes indistinct, glabrous; petals whitish, barely exceeding calyx.

Flowering Mar-Oct. Disturbed urban areas, coastal lagoons, roadsides, dunes, vacant lots; 0 m; introduced; Calif.; Atlantic Islands (Canary Islands).