Chloris barbata Sw. var. formosana Honda, Bot. Mag. Tokyo 40: 437. 1926, Monogr. Poac. Jap. 156. 1930.
Annual; culm bases branched and rooted; sheath laterally compressed, keeled; ligule about 0.5 mm long. Spikes digitately arranged at the culm tip. Spikelets 3-flowered, about 2.5 mm long (excluding the awn), sessile. Rachis ciliate, base of the spikelet silky; glumes membranous, 1-nerved; the lower about : 1.5 mm long, lanceolate, acute; the upper about 1.2 mm long, with a sinus at the apex, midrib prolong into an awn; fertile lemma ovate, about 2.5 mm long, subcoriaceous, margins covered with silky hairs, midrib extending into a long awn arising from the sinus; palea as long as the lemma, rounded at the apex, 2-keeled; sterile lemma coriaceous, truncate, with a sinus, 3-nerved, midrib prolonged into a long awn of about 1.6 mm long. Caryopsis about 1.6 mm long, elliptical; embryo 3/4 the length of the caryopsis.
TAIPEI: Chinkuashih, Hsu & Kuoh 10581. TAICHUNG: Wuchi, Nee s. n. Sept. 27, 1970. CHIAYI: Tongshih,
DeVol 8335. TAINAN: Tainan, Keng s. n. July 25, 1956. KAOHSIUNG : Kaohsiung, Nakahara 635. PENGHU: Hsu & Kuoh 14015, Huang & Kao 6862, TAITUNG: Green Island, Sasaki s. n. July 1935.
Locally it grows mainly in lowland especially coastal region of southern Taiwan. The inflorescence is pale yellow and the sterile lemma is wedge-shaped.
