Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides

Rhizomatous perennial, tufted or mat-forming, culms ascending, to 1 m high. Leaves semi-spreading; blade flat, 2–20 cm long, 1–12 mm broad, smooth and glabrous, scabrous or sparsely to copiously hairy; ligule a minute, membranous rim, less than 0.5 mm long; summit of sheath auriculate, usually with a few long hairs on the lobes. Inflorescence a narrow raceme or panicle, 5–18 cm long, weeping when fully expanded. Spikelets 13–40 mm long (including awns), green to dark purplish-brown, subsessile or with pedicels to 1 cm long; glumes 0.2–2.0 mm long, the lower usually about half as long as upper; callus 1–2 mm long, with a tuft or short bristles at base; lower sterile lemma generally shorter than upper, with awn shorter than, to much longer than body; awn of upper lemma at least as long as body, both awns scabrous, 5–7-nerved; fertile lemma slightly shorter than body of upper sterile lemma, keeled, acuminate, smooth; palea very narrow, from one- to two-thirds as long as fertile lemma; stamens 4. Flowers all year but mostly Oct.–Mar.