Ventenata dubia is a slender, erect annual grass in the Poaceae family.

Inflorescence is an open panicle with slender, spreading branches, typically at 90 degree angles to the raceme, bearing spikelets at their tips. Awns are up to 1-inch long.

Thin branching stems are naked and wiry, making the grass hard to cut, and earning it the common name “wire grass.”

 

Aggressive invader of rangeland and disturbed sites but also found in grain crops.