Tufted annual; culms 5-25 cm high. Leaf-blades linear, acuminate, 1-5 cm long, 0.3-0.5 mm wide (up to 2 mm when flat). Panicle contracted, dense, 1-4 cm long, 0.5-1 cm wide. Spikelets 5-6 mm long, 5-10-flowered; glumes lanceolate, acute, the lower 5-7-nerved, 4-5 mm long, the upper 5-nerved, 4-6 mm long; lowest lemma 9-nerved, 1.8-2.5 mm long, broady ovate, 2-lobed, the lobes broadly triangular, 0.2-0.4 mm long; palea 1.6-2.6 mm long, spathulate, narrowly obtuse, reaching at least to the middle of the lemma lobes, often as long as or longer than the lemma; anthers 0.2-0.4 mm long. Grain obovoid, 1 mm long.