Panicum bengalense Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 1: 311. 1825; Arundinella wallichii Nees ex Steudel.

Perennial, with branching scaly rhizomes. Culms solitary, erect, moderately slender to stout, 50–120 cm tall, 1.5–4 mm in diam., nodes bearded or glabrescent. Leaf sheaths loose, densely tuberculate-hispid, rarely subglabrous; leaf blades broadly linear, flat, 6–30 cm × 5–15 mm, tuberculate-hispid on both surfaces, rarely subglabrous, midrib broad, white, apex finely acuminate; ligule 0.3–0.5 mm. Panicle narrowly cylindrical, dense, 6–30(–40) cm; central axis scabrid; branches spikelike, 2–7 cm, erect, arranged in whorls of (1–)2–6, secund, densely spiculate; pedicels short, densely scabrid. Spikelets not gaping, 2.5–3.5 mm; lower glume 2–2.5 mm, 3-veined, hispidulous on veins, apex acute; upper glume 5-veined, usually tuberculate-setose on veins; lower floret staminate, longer than lower glume; upper floret ca. 2 mm, lemma apex narrowed into a poorly developed awn; awn soon deciduous, geniculate with short brown twisted column, 1–1.5 mm; callus shortly pubescent. Fl. and fr. Aug–Oct.

The panicle appears awnless at first sight, but close inspection will reveal very reduced, easily deciduous awns on at least some of the spikelets.

Plains, hill thickets, moist meadows, river banks, ditches, forming open spreading patches; 100–1800 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, S Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].