Tufted annual; culms 4-35 cm high, procumbent to erect, somewhat rigid. Leaf-blades 2-10 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat or convolute, smooth or scaberulous; sheaths inflated. Inflorescence a sparingly branched panicle, partly enclosed in the uppermost leaf-sheath, 3-15 cm long, mostly with 1 spikelet and 1(-2) branches at each node; branches and pedicles pulvinate, strongly divaricate at maturity. Spikelets 7-10.5 mm long, oblanceolate, 2-3(-4)-flowered; glumes acute to acuminate, apiculate, glabrous, thickly 1-nerved, the lower 3.5-4.3 mm long, the upper 4.5-5.5 mm long; lemma 5.8-7.5 mm long (excluding the 0.5-1.2 mm long awn), glabrous, acuminate.

Type locality: Egypt.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan); Mediterranean region eastwards to Turkmenistan.

A small but useful desert grass providing some fodder for sheep.