A small, stemless, annual herb. Leaves 2-8 (-12) cm long, 1.5-7 (-8) mm broad, thick, often decumbent, narrow linear to narrow lanceolate, attenuated with short or up to 4 mm long thick to obtuse subulate teeth, sparsely hairy; hairs more or less spreading, brownish, ± stiff. Scapes ascendent, thin, 8-14 cm long, pilose to villose, hairs stiff, adpressed. Spikes 1-2.5 cm long, ovoid to cylindrical, dense. Bracts 3 mm long, concave, broader than long, glabrous to sometimes dorsally bearing scattered long hairs; keel thick, strong, slightly produced. Sepals 1.75 mm long, thin, membranous, broad rotundate, glabrous, nerve not much conspicuous, visible from 1/4 to the middle of the sepals. Corolla lobes 1 mm long, elliptic- ovate to lanceolate, obtuse, usually reflexed, rarely erect. Seeds 2-2.5 mm long, yellow to brown.
Type: “Hab. in Hispanae collibus agrorumque marginibus” LINN 144/25.
Distribution: Portugal, Mediterranian regions, Macaronesia, south-west Asia to south Iran and Pakistan.