Chloris caudata Trinius ex Bunge.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect or geniculately ascending, slightly flattened, 15–100 cm tall. Basal leaf sheaths strongly keeled, glabrous; leaf blades flat or folded, 5–30 cm, 2–7 mm wide, glabrous, adaxial surface scabrous, apex acuminate; ligule 0.5–1 mm, glabrous or ciliate. Racemes digitate, 5–12, erect or slightly slanting, 2–10 cm, silky, pale brown or tinged pink or purple; rachis scabrous or hispid. Spikelets with 2 or 3 florets, 2-awned; lower glume 1.8–2.2 mm; upper glume 3–4 mm, acuminate; lemma of fertile floret obovate-lanceolate in side view, 2.8–3.5 mm, keel gibbous, conspicuously bearded on upper margins with a spreading tuft of 2.5–3.5 mm silky hairs, margins, keel and flanks silky-ciliate or glabrous; awn 5–15 mm; second floret sterile, oblong, glabrous, awn 4–10 mm; third floret occasionally present, reduced to a small clavate scale, awnless. Fl. and fr. Jun–Oct. 2n = 14, 20, 26, 30, 40.

This is a widespread and very variable, weedy annual, recognized by the conspicuous tufts of spreading, silky hairs on the upper lemma margins, together with a digitate inflorescence of erect racemes. It extends from the tropics well into temperate regions where the summers are hot.

Common on stony slopes, steppe, sandy riversides, roadsides, fields, plantations, frequent on walls and roofs; sea level to 3700 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan; Africa, America, SW Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands].