Loosely tufted annual; culms 20-75(-100) cm high, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaf-blades up to 25 cm long, 1-7 mm wide, scaberulous. Inflorescence 4-26 cm long, unbranched or with a few branches at the base, the spikelets sessile or almost so, alternate in opposite rows. Spikelets 9-15 mm long, ovate; glumes glabrous, the lower 2.8-3.5 mm long, 3-nerved, the upper 3.5-5 mm long, 3-5 nerved; lemma 4.2-5.7 mm long, glabrous but with dense minute tubercles on the back.