Echinochloa crusgalli (Linnaeus) P. Beauvois var. formo-sensis Ohwi; E. glabrescens var. barbata Kossenko; E. glabres-cens var. glabra Kossenko; E. glabrescens var. pilosa Kossenko; E. micans Kossenko; E. pachychloa Kossenko.

Culms erect or slightly decumbent at base, 50–120 cm tall. Leaf sheaths smooth and glabrous; leaf blades stiffly erect, linear, flat, 10–30 × 0.6–1.2 cm, glabrous, margins thickened, apex acuminate. Inflorescence narrow, 8–15 × 1–2(–3) cm; racemes 1–4 cm, simple. Spikelets light green, 3.5–5 mm, awnless or awned; glumes 5-veined; lower glume 1/3–1/2 as long as spikelet, acute; upper glume equal to spikelet, inconspicuously scabrous to shortly hispid along veins, cuspidate to awn-tipped; both lemmas coriaceous, hard and shining, especially down the center, the lower cuspidate to awned. Fl. and fr. summer–autumn. 2n = 54.

This is an extreme variant from the Echinochloa crusgalli gene pool distinguished by the hard, glossy lower floret.

Damp places, streams. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, NE India, Japan, Korea, Nepal; Africa].