Tufted perennial up to 80 cm high. Panicle ovate, effuse, the branches bare of spikelets in the lower half. Glumes unequal, finely acuminate, the lower 8–12 mm long, the upper (11–)13–18 mm long; lemma, including the callus but not the column, 6–9.5 mm long, scaberulous above, the tip gradually extended into a column 6–8 mm long; column without an articulation; central awn 3–4 cm long; lateral awns a little shorter.
