Plants annual. Culms erect, 60–80 cm tall, 5- or 6-noded, smooth, glabrous. Leaf sheath usually shorter than internode; ligule membranous; auricles present, surrounding culm; leaf blade 15–20 × 0.6–0.7 cm. Spike erect, distichous, 10–20 × 0.7–0.8 cm; rachis flexible, margin pubescent. Lateral spikelets: pedicellate, sterile; pedicel ca. 2 mm; glumes ca. 5 × 0.5 mm, awn slender, ca. 5 mm; lemma ca. 8 mm. Central spikelet: fertile; glumes ca. 5 mm, awn slender, ca. 5 mm; lemma ca. 10 mm, awn to 15 cm; caryopsis adherent to or free from lemma and palea. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug.

Cultivated as a fodder plant, or a weed in fields of Hordeum vul-gare. Anhui, Fujian, Hebei, Henan, Qinghai, Xizang; perhaps other provinces [widely cultivated in temperate regions].