Andropogon microphyllus Trinius, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 275. 1833; A. lancifolius Trinius var. microphyllus (Trinius) Kuntze; A. sikkimensis Bor; Pleuroplitis microphylla (Trinius) Regel.

Ephemeral, delicate. Culms solitary or loosely tufted, very slender, 10–25 cm tall, glabrous. Leaf sheaths glabrous to hispid; leaf blades lanceolate to ovate, 0.5–1.5 cm × ca. 5 mm, tuberculate-hispid on both surfaces, base rounded, margins tuberculate-setose, apex acuminate; ligule 1.5–2 mm. Racemes 1–3, 1–2.5 cm; rachis internodes 2/3 length of sessile spikelets, margins ciliate, hairs increasing to 1–1.3 mm at apex. Sessile spikelet 3–4 mm; lower glume elliptic or lanceolate, shallowly convex or almost flat, margins not inflexed, strongly 6- or 7-veined with deep grooves between, veins smooth except below apex, apex emarginate; upper glume with acute apex; awn 8–10.5 mm; palea absent. Anthers 2, 0.6–0.8 mm. Pedicelled spikelet present throughout, linear, 2–3.5 mm, male or sterile and reduced to 2 empty glumes. Fl. and fr. Sep–Nov. 2n = 18.

Dry mountain slopes; 2000–3000 m. Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Nepal, N Thailand].