Echinolaena polystachya Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 1: 119. 1816; Panicum heteranthum Link; P. uncinatum Raddi.

Culms slender, stoloniferous, rooting and forming a loose mat, up to 50 cm tall. Leaf sheaths usually shorter than the internodes; leaf blades lanceolate, thin, 2–8 × 0.6–1.2 cm, glabrous or hispidulous, apex acute or acuminate; ligule 1–2 mm. Inflorescence narrow, 5–15 cm, bearing 3–5 loosely ascending racemes with distant spikelet pairs, lowest raceme 1–4 cm; pedicels 1–2 mm. Spikelets 4–5 mm; glumes papery, the lower lanceolate, 3-veined, acuminate, the upper thicker, navicular, 7-veined, with tubercle-based hooks between the veins; lower lemma 7-veined; upper lemma subcoriaceous, ca. 3 mm, pale, glossy. Caryopsis fusiform, ca. 2.5 mm, acute. Fl. and fr. Sep–Oct. 2n = 36.

Forest shade. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Xizang, Yunnan [throughout the tropics].