Japan Flora: Glabrescent, tufted annual; culms 20-50 cm. long, erect from a short de­cumbent or ascending base, glabrous; leaf-blades flat, 6-12 cm. long, 5-8 mm. wide, slightly glaucescent above, slightly sca­brous, glabrous or often with a few, spreading, long hairs near the base; ligules hyaline, pale-brown, 1-1.5 mm, long; sheaths glabrous; racemes 4-10, digitate, ascending, 4-10 cm. long, densely flowered; rachis less than 1 mm. wide, scabrous on margins; spikelets ovate-elliptic, rather acute, 1.5-2 mm. long, white-green and sometimes slightly reddish purple tinged; first glume usually wanting, rarely hyaline and trun­cate, early withering, the second slightly shorter than the spike­let, 3-nerved, puberulent; sterile lemma 7-nerved, ovate-elliptic, grayish crisped-puberulent between the nerves; fertile lemma as long as the sterile one, ovate, coriaceous to herbaceous, dark brown, rather acute. Aug.-Oct. Grassy waste places and cultivated fields; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; very common and variable. China, Formosa, Ryukyus, Korea, and S. America (naturalized).

var. lasiophylla (Honda) Tuyama Plant slender, erect, with 1-3 erect racemes and hairy leaf­blades.

var. intersita (Ohwi) Ohwi Similar to the preceding variety but less hairy. Both varieties grow in rather wet places.