Perennial, 0.2-1 m tall; culms in dense tufts from short rhizomes, +/- erect, branching at the lower nodes, glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes near the base, longer near the apex, glabrous; blades mostly 5-15 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, glabrous to scabrous, often sparsely pilose on the upper surface at the base. Spikelike panicles mostly 2-6 cm long, densely flowered, the axis densely pubescent; bristles 5 or more below each spikelet, usually longer than spikelet; spikelets 2-2.5 mm long, ovoid, glabrous; first glume about one-third as long as spikelet; second glume a little longer than the first; sterile lemma equaling fruit. Fruits white, transversely rugose. Croat 6811. Common in clearings where vegetation is not allowed to grow too tall. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year, especially during the rainy season. The bristles subtending the spikelets do not appear to aid directly in epizoochorous dispersal, since they remain attached after all fruits have been shed. However, they release the mature disarticulated fruits from the infloressence upon impact, such as of passing animals, and perhaps are capable of throwing the fruits out of the inflorescence.