Aegilops exaltata Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 2: 575. 1771; Mnesithea exaltata (Linnaeus) Skeels; Ophiuros corymbosus (Linnaeus f.) Gaertner; Rottboellia corymbosa Linnaeus f.

Perennial. Culms often bulbously swollen at base, erect, 1–2 m tall, 4–6 mm in diam., simple or branched. Leaf sheaths with tubercle-based hairs or glabrous, margins densely ciliate with rather rigid tubercle-based hairs; leaf blades broadly linear, 30–60 × 0.5–2.5 cm, midrib broad and white, margins pectinate, base rounded or subcordate, apex long-acuminate; ligule 1–2 mm, glabrous. Racemes often fastigiately clustered, slender, 0.5–1.5 cm, base enclosed by a spatheole; rachis very fragile, internodes ca. 3 mm, obliquely articulated. Sessile spikelet 2–3 mm; lower glume ovate-oblong, smooth or areolate on back, sometimes also tuberculate, wingless, apex subacute; upper glume equal to lower glume, boat-shaped. Pedicelled spikelet completely absent; pedicel obscure, free at extreme apex. Fl. and fr. Jun–Oct.

Grassy hillsides; below 900 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [India, Laos, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia].