Japan Flora: Tufted perennial without stolons; culms 30-100 cm. long; leaf-blades flat，green, 15-25 cm. long, 4-10 mm. wide, scabrous; spikes nodding, 10-20 cm. long, pale green; spikelets numerous, erect, 4- to 7-flowered, 10-15 mm. long; glumes narrowly oblong, 5- to 7-nerved, 5-8 mm. long; lemmas 10-15 nun. long; glumes narrowly oblong, 5- to 7-nerved, 5-8 mm. long; lemmas narrowly oblong, 7-10 mm. long, with long, spreading, rigid hairs or rarely glabrous, prominently 5-nerved above, the awn 15-20 mm. long, from an entire or notched apex, rarely wanting; callus nearly smooth and glabrous; palea 2/3-4/5 as long as the lemma, the keels ciliate, at least above.  May-July. Waste grounds and culti­vated fields; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; very com­mon.

var. pilosum (Korsh.) Honda.  Spikes erect; lemmas glabrous, rarely strigose toward the margins.------ Low moun­tains; Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; rather common. China, Korea, Ussuri, and Manchuria. The typical phase occurs in n. China.