Coarse annual; culms 10-150 cm high, erect, supported by prop roots. Leaf-blades lanceolate, 4-20 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, cordate and often amplexicaul, glabrous or hispidulous, the margins finely pectinate-ciliate. Inflorescence composed of 2-17 racemes, the lower verticillate, the upper borne on a short common axis 1-5 cm long; racemes 4-15 cm long, very fragile. Sessile spikelet 5-13 mm long; lower glume narrowly ovate, prominently rugose; upper glume rugose across the back; upper lemma with an awn 1.5-2.5 cm long. Pedicel glabrous, a little longer than the sessile spikelet.

Type: India, Heyne (B).

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab, adventive); tropical Africa extending to India, Burma and Indonesia.

Thelepogon elegans has been recorded only once from Pakistan, as an adventive in a cotton field near Sangla Hill. Whether or not it has become an established alien in this area has yet to be determined.