Poa atrovirens Desfontaines, Fl. Atlant. 1: 73. 1798; Era-grostis chariis (Schultes) Hitchcock; E. elegantula (Kunth) Nees ex Steudel (1854), not Nees (1851); E. fracta S. C. Sun & H. Q. Wang; E. longispicula S. C. Sun & H. Q. Wang; E. multinodis B. S. Sun & S. Wang; Poa chariis Schultes; P. elegantula Kunth.

Perennial. Culms loosely tufted, erect or geniculate at base, 15–100 cm tall, ca. 4 mm in diam., 4–8-noded. Leaf sheaths glabrous but pilose along summit; ligules a ciliolate membrane, 0.2–0.3 mm; leaf blades flat or involute, 4–17 × 0.2–0.4 cm, adaxial surface scabrous, near base pilose, abaxial surface glabrous. Panicle open, 5–20(–25) × 2–15 cm; branches one to several per node. Spikelets plumbeous and purplish, narrowly oblong, 5–15(–25) × 1.5–2.5 mm, 8–40-flowered, pedicels 0.5–5(–15) mm; rachilla persistent. Glumes 1-veined, 1–2.3 mm; lower glume ovate, 1–1.3 mm, apex acute, upper glume narrowly ovate, 1.3–2.3 mm, apex acuminate. Lemmas broad ovate, 1.8–2.2 mm, apex acute, lower lemma 2–2.2 mm, deciduous with palea. Palea loosely ciliate along keel, 1.6–1.8 mm. Stamens 3; anthers 0.7–0.9 mm. Caryopsis ca. 1 mm. Fl. and fr. summer and autumn. 2n = 40.

Roadsides, river banks. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan [tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia].