Phalaris paradoxa

Tufted annual, stems erect, to 90 cm high. Leaves glabrous; blade minutely scabrous, to 15 cm long and 9 mm wide; upper sheath usually inflated; ligule obtuse, membranous, 3–5 mm long. Panicle dense, cylindric, sometimes tapered toward the base, 3–10 cm long; fertile spikelets 5–8 mm long; glumes 3-nerved, equal, acuminate, the wing on the keel often ending in an acute point; sterile lemmas minute (c. 0.3 mm) and scale-like; fertile lemma lanceolate, 2.5–3.5 mm long, virtually glabrous; sterile spikelets distinctly smaller than fertile ones, occasionally reduced to mere swellings at the ends of the pedicels. Flowers Nov.–Feb.