Annual. Culms 20-100 cm high. Panicle 1-6 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, ovate-oblong. Glumes 4-6.5 mm long, ± equal, broadly winged, the wing margin usually erose-denticulate, occasionally entire; sterile floret, 1,1-1.8 mm long or very short and only 0.2-0.3 mm long, glabrous; fertile floret broadly lanceolate-ovate, 2.7-4 mm long, grey-brown and shiny at maturity, pubescent.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: March-May.

Type locality: Orient.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan, Punjab, N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); throughout the world, but apparently native only in the Mediterranean region and eastwards to Baluchistan and the Northwest Himalayas.

Lesser Canary Grass is considered a useful forage grass for sheep and cattle in Iraq (Bor) but Duthie reports that it is of little value in India. It is a weed of roadsides and waste places, no doubt native in Pakistan.