Annual. Culms loosely tufted, slender, usually decumbent and branching below, 10–40(–50) cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous or pubescent, especially along margins and mouth; leaf blades broadly lanceolate, 1–4 × 0.3–1 cm, both surfaces glabrous to densely pubescent, base rounded or subcordate, margins cartilaginous, scabrous, apex acute; ligule ciliate. Inflorescence axis 3–7 cm; racemes 4–8, (1–)3–6 cm, secund, ascending; rachis triquetrous, ± villous; spikelets mostly single. Spikelets elliptic, 2–2.7 mm, without a stipe, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes transversely bearded below apex, acute or subacute; lower glume 1/3–1/2 spikelet length, clasping, 3-veined, acute; upper glume separated from lower by a slight internode, 5-veined; upper lemma striate and transversely rugulose, apex acute to minutely mucronate. Fl. and fr. Jul–Oct. 2n = 36.

This is a weedy species recognizable by its short, broad, usually softly hairy leaf blades and secund racemes of rather small spikelets.

Mountain or hill slopes, fields, roadsides, other weedy or grassy places. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa].