Culms 5-15(30) cm, erect or decumbent, often geniculate; nodesoften purplish. Blades 1.5-5 cm long, to 5 mm wide, curved outward. Spikes 2.5-5(8) cm, exserted at maturity, congested above; lower internodes 4-5 mm; upper internodes 1-2 mm. Spikelets with 5-15(40) florets. Glumes subequal, 3-5 mm, prominently many-veined, irregularly dentate at the apices; lemmas (3)4-5(6) mm, prominently 9-13-veined, apices truncate and mucronate; paleas slightly shorter than the lemmas; anthers 3-3.5 mm, whitish; lodicules about 0.1 mm, not fused to the paleas. Caryopses about 2 mm, slightly compressed laterally, oblong, minutely rugose. 2n = 24.

Tuctoria greenei grows at elevations below 150 m in the Central Valley of California.