Leaves: margins bristly-ciliate, faces glabrous but for bristly midribs. Paleae little, if at all, exserted, apices obtuse to acute, sometimes apiculate. 2n = 18.

Flowering Apr-Sep. Open, ± alkaline flats, depressions, stream banks and beds, grasslands, disturbed sites; of conservation concern; 90-500 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

Subspecies laevis is known only from the interior South Coast region and Peninsular Ranges.