Tufted annual; culms 30-120 cm high, erect or ascending, nodes hairy. Leaf-blades narrowly lanceolate, 3-15 cm long, 5-20 mm wide, ± amplexicaul, tuberculate-ciliate on the margins. Inflorescence of 4-11 racemes, usually in 1 whorl; racemes 7-25 cm long, the lowest third to half bare of spikelets. Spikelets narrowly elliptic-ovate, 3.5-5.5 mm long; lower glume half to three-quarters as long as the spikelet; upper glume subulate-acuminate, cartilaginous, smooth and shining, the margins ciliate with appressed or eventually spreading hairs 1-2 mm long; upper lemma with an awn 2-4.5 mm long, the palea pappillose with gobular hairs.

Type: India, Koenig..

Distribution: Kashmir; throughout the Old World tropics.