Glabrous tufted annual, usually to c. 15 (rarely to 30) cm high. Leaf-blades flat, to 25 cm long, 3–6 mm wide; ligule c. 0.5 mm long. Inflorescence spike-like, interupted, with spikelets crowded on appressed, linear or more or less globular clusters, each c. 0.5–1 cm long, c. 0.5 cm diam.; inflorescence axis scabrous to shortly hispid. Spikelets 3.5–5 mm long, 4–6-flowered; glumes 2–2.3 mm long; lemma 1–1.5 mm long, scabrous to softly hispid along dorsal keel and margins, with awn c. 1–2 mm long, scabrous to hispid; palea about as long as body of lemma, with a pair of broad dorsal wings that clasp the base of the succeeding floret, margins ciliate. Flowers Oct.–Nov. (2 records)
RobP, Gold. Very rare in Victoria, collected in 2011 in a lignum (Duma florulenta) swamp near Robinvale, the only previous Victorian collection (1854) from an unspecified location along the Murray River.
The species is widespread in northern and central Australia on soils prone to inundation.
