Brachiaria eruciformis (Sm.) Griseb.

 
First leaves

The prefoliation is rolled. Leaf blade is more or less hairy, lanceolate oval, of 3 to 5 cm long, with acute apex.
 
General habit

Small grass tufts spreading loosely, geniculate stem firstly spreading then ascending, more or less branched at the lower nodes, 15 to 30 cm in height.
 
Underground system

The roots are fibrous and dense.
 
Culm

The culm of the grass is small, cylindrical, glabrous or slightly hairy, branched at the lower nodes, geniculate; nodes are densely hairy.
 
Leaf

The leaves are simple and alternate. The sheath is more or less hairy, with long flexuous hairs tuberculate at the base. The ligule is ciliated and represented by a line of long hairs. The lamina is linear lanceolate, 2 to 8 cm long and 2 to 5 mm wide, with an attenuated acute top, glabrous or with sparse hairs. The margin is finely scabrous.
 
Inflorescence

The inflorescence is a narrow linear racemose panicle, 3 to 10 cm long, consisting of 5 to 12 subsessile racemes, erect and applied against the axis. The racemes are 1 to 2.5 cm long, the longest being towards the base. The axis of the raceme is slender and hairy, 0.2 to 0.3 mm wide.
 
Flower

The spikelets are oblong obtuse, 2 to 2.2 mm long, hairy, solitary and slightly pedicellate. Lower glume is 1/5 to ¼ the length of the spikelet, without clear rib. Upper Glume with 5 ribs, same size as the spikelet. The internal flower is sterile and has a lemma quite similar to the upper glume with 5 ribs. The external flower is fertile, shorter, elliptical, with cartilaginous lemma and palea, smooth and shiny.
 
Fruit

Grain is oval elliptic, 1.5 mm long, enclosed in the lemma and palea.