Tetrarrhena juncea

Rhizomatous perennial, long-trailing or climbing to 8 m high. Stems wiry, retrorsely scabrous, usually much-branched, often producing adventitious roots from lower nodes. Leaves spreading, distant or lacking from lower stems, retrorsely scabrous, glabrous or shortly hairy about the ligule; blade flat or nearly so, 1–8 cm long, 2–5 mm wide; ligule ciliate, to 0.3 mm long, sometimes with marginal hair-tufts to 3 mm long. Inflorescence a spike-like raceme 2–7 cm long. Spikelets 5–16 per raceme, 4.5–6.5 mm long, often purplish, subsessile or with pedicels to 3 mm long; glumes subequal, 1.6–3.5 mm long, smooth and glabrous; lemmas glabrous, obscurely 5–7-nerved, lower sterile lemma about two-thirds length of spikelet, obtuse, hardly keeled, upper sterile lemma and fertile lemma similar, obtuse, keeled; palea slightly shorter than fertile lemma, often purplish; stamens 4. Flowers Nov.–Apr.