_The leaf-sheaths_ are glabrous, rather compressed, striate, shorter than the internodes. _Ligule_ is membranous, short, very finely ciliolate or not. _The leaf-blade_ is linear, finely acuminate, sparsely hairy, sometimes with tubercle-based hairs, becoming glabrous when old with scaberulous margins 2 to 8 inches by 1/10 to 1/6 inch, base rounded mostly with a few long hairs. [Illustration: Fig. 159.--Andropogon caricosus. 1 and 2. Front and back view of a bit of spike; 3. a sessile and a pedicelled spikelet; 4, 5 and 6. the first, second and the third glume, respectively, of the sessile spikelet; 7. awn representing the fourth glume; 8. stamens, lodicules and the ovary; 9. the first glume of the pedicelled spikelet.] _The spikes_ are either binate or solitary varying in length from 1 to 2 inches, joints and pedicels about 1/3 as long as the sessile spikelets, slightly angular or flat, ciliate along one side with white hairs; peduncle is slender, pale or purple, pubescent or glabrous just below the spike. _The spikelets_ are about 1/8 inch, imbricate, a sessile and a stalked one from the top of each joint, greenish or purple. The _sessile spikelet_ contains a bisexual flower and consists of four glumes. The callus is short, and shortly hairy below. The _first glume_ is somewhat chartaceous, obovate-oblong, obtuse or truncate, 7- to 11-nerved, margin slightly folded, keel shortly rigidly ciliate towards the apex, and thinly ciliate below, dorsal surfaces sparsely hairy below the middle. The _second glume_ is chartaceous, ovate-lanceolate, acute, equal to or slightly longer than the first glume but narrower, 3-nerved, margin infolded, thinly shortly ciliate, dorsally glabrous, shining. The _third glume_ is hyaline, ovate-oblong, acute, nerveless, margins sparsely ciliate or not. The _fourth glume_ is the base of the awn, 3/4 to 1 inch, scaberulous. _Stamens_ are three with yellow or purple tinged anthers, _ovary_ oblong with two feathery _stigmas_. _Lodicules_ are two, cuneate. The _pedicelled spikelets_ are either male or neuter and consist of four _glumes_. The _first glume_ is chartaceous, obovate-oblong, obtuse, many-nerved (thirteen or more), thinly ciliate with long hairs and with a few rigid short hairs towards the apex; margins are slightly infolded, dorsally sparsely hairy without. The _second glume_ is membranous, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved (occasionally 4-nerved), margins are thinly ciliate and infolded. The _third glume_ is hyaline, nerveless and ciliate. The _fourth glume_ is hyaline, nerveless, linear and oblong, glabrous, small, the apex is narrowed and deeply bifid. There are three _stamens_ and two _lodicules_. This is a common grass flourishing on the bunds of paddy fields and in sheltered places where there is sufficient moisture in the soil. But this is less common than _A. annulatus_, Forsk. In black cotton soil at Bantanahal in Bellary district it grows to a height of 4 or 5 feet.