Densely tufted perennial up to 130 cm high, the stems usually unbranched; leaves inrolled with noticeably thickened midrib on the upper surface, rigid, harsh, glaucous; ligule a line of hairs. Panicle linear, 6–30 cm long; rhachis with shallowly angular ribs below the stumpless scars, glabrous to pilose; involucre enclosing 1 sessile and 0–1(–2) pedicelled spikelets, borne upon a slender pubescent stipe 1–3 mm long; bristles loosely plumose, the longest 16–40 mm. Spikelets lanceolate, (4.5–)5–7 mm long; lower glume vestigial or up to 2 mm long; upper glume 1/5–2/3 the length of the spikelet; lower lemma as long as the spikelet, male or barren, acuminate; upper lemma similar to the lower.
Range
N1–3 North and North-east Africa and South-west Asia.
