Phalaris minor

Tufted annual to c. 100 cm high, rarely more. Leaves glabrous; blades to c. 30 cm long, 3–13 mm wide; ligule obtuse or erose, 2–8 mm long. Panicle dense, cylindric, 2–6 cm long. Spikelets 4.5–6 mm long; glumes 3-nerved, subequal, winged on the keel in the upper two-thirds, usually irregularly 1–4-toothed toward the tip; sterile lemmas unequal, the lower minute (often apparently absent) and the upper c. 1 mm long; fertile lemma ovate-lanceolate, slightly oblique, c. 3 mm long, with appressed hairs. Flowers Oct.–Dec.