Culms to 40 cm high. Leaves glabrous, minutely scabrous along nerves; blade inrolled, to 8 cm long and 0.5 mm wide; ligule toothed at apex, to 5 mm long. Panicle initially contracted with erect branches, finally open to sparse with spreading branches, to 15 cm long and 12 cm wide. Spikelets 2–3.5 mm long; glumes equal, acute; lemmas (excluding membranous apical lobes) about three-quarters as long as glumes, glabrous except for short callus hairs, minutely scabrous; awn present on both lemmas, inserted about one-third from base, 2.5–4 mm long. Flowers Sep.-Dec.
LoM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, MonT, VAlp. Naturalized in all States except NT, also widely in e.g. southern Africa, the Americas, New Zealand. Indigenous to Europe, northern Africa, western Asia. In Victoria, occurs across a wide range of habitats, but not in perpetually moist sites or semi-arid areas.
