A perennial apparently short grass throwing out filiform stolons bearing bunches of leaves and branches. Culms compressed below, glabrous. Leaf-sheaths very smooth glabrous, rarely with some very fine spreading hairs, pale but bright green, at length turning reddish, the lower much compressed and keeled, the upper terete, all very narrow; ligules scarious, truncate, glabrous, up to 3/4 lin. long; blades very narrow, linear from a slightly attenuated base, tapering to a fine point, 4–5 in. by 3/4 to almost 1 lin., green turning reddish or brownish, quite glabrous or with some very fine spreading hairs up to over 2 lin. long, particularly near the base, rough above and along the margins, smooth below. Spatheate panicle lax, secund, loose, 9 in. long, consisting of a basal branch, undivided below, up to 6 in. long and bearing 3 or 4 secondary tiers, and of about 5 upwards approximate 3–4-rayed mixed or upwards simple tiers; simple rays very fine, 1 1/2–1 in. long or the uppermost still shorter; lower subtending leaves resembling the preceding ones, the following with much reduced blades or the uppermost spatheoloid. Spatheoles linear, acutely acuminate, 1 1/4 in. by 1/2 lin., subherbaceous and green in the lower part, scarious and reddish upwards, glabrous or more often very loosely hairy, particularly towards the base; peduncles extremely slender, at length 1 1/2–2 in. long, recurved or curled, sometimes finally straightened out, with fine spreading tubercle-based white hairs 2–2 1/2 lin. long towards the tips. Racemes slightly spreading, finally epinastically deflexed, 1/2– 2/3 in. long, greenish, 2-awned per pair; bases bearded, with the hairs like those of the peduncle, that of the upper raceme up to 1 lin. long, both produced into a linear 2-lobed purplish or brown scarious appendage about 1 1/4 in. long; pedicels very finely filiform, up to 2 lin. long, shortly ciliate. Homogamous pair of spikelets 1 at the base of the lower raceme only. Fertile spikelets narrowly linear-lanceolate, acuminate, including the callus 3 lin. long, pale green or slightly tinged with brown or purple; callus slender, acute, 3/4 lin. long, shortly bearded. Glumes equal, chartaceous; the lower 2-mucronate with broadly rounded sides, 7-nerved, the middle nerve raised between 2 fine grooves, margins involute below the acumen, keels fine, scaberulous; upper glume mucronulate, 3-nerved. Lower floret reduced to a narrow linear-oblong faintly 2-nerved reversedly ciliate hyaline valve 2 lin. long. Upper floret hermaphrodite: valve stipitiform with 2 subulate hyaline teeth 1/2 lin. long and ciliate, awn slender, about 1–1 1/4 in. long, column finely fulvously pubescent; valvule 0. Pedicelled spikelets neuter, subulate, glabrous, 3 lin. long excluding the bristle of the lower glume (2 lin. long), and 9-nerved, keels scabrid, upper glume much shorter, 3-nerved; florets suppressed or represented by a small very narrow ciliate hyaline valve.
