Loosely tufted annual; culms 5-60 cm high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades 1-6 cm long, 2-5 mm wide. Inflorescence 2-15 cm long, compactly cylindrical, congested; clusters plump, the tips incurved, consisting of 2 spikelets of which the upper is smaller and borne upon a distinct internode 0.3-0.7 mm long. Lower spikelet 2-3(33) mm long; upper glume 5-nerved, the prickles turgid to bulbous in their lower half and hooked at the tip.

Type: West Indies, Dominican Republic, Bertero (M).

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan); throughout Africa and the warmer parts of America; also in Arabia, Afghanistan and China.

A weedy species of trampled or overgrazed places, often on poor sandy or stony soils. In the older literature it is often confused with Tragus racemosus (Linn.) All. which has a 7-nerved upper glume.