Perennial, up to 5 ft. high, with intravaginal innovations. Culms erect, somewhat stout, firm, terete, glabrous and smooth, simple and 4–5-noded below the panicle; lower internodes swollen at the base, with the conspicuous culmnodes 3 lin. from the base. Leaf-sheaths firm, terete, quite glabrous, the basal more or less persistent; ligules scarious, oblong, glabrous, 2 lin. long; blades narrowly linear from an equally wide or more often long-attenuated base, often almost reduced to the stout dorsally rounded midrib, long-tapering upwards to a fine point, over 1 ft. by 1 1/2 lin., very rigid (at least below), glabrous, slightly rough above and scabrid along the margins, midrib white above, primary lateral nerves about 3 on each side, with about 3 very fine secondary nerves between them. Spatheate panicle elongated, narrow, somewhat contracted, up to 1 1/2 ft. long, of 5–6 mostly mixed up to 5-rayed tiers; subtending leaves with well developed upwards rapidly decreasing blades, the lowest resembling the preceding leaves, glabrous, the lowest compound rays up to 1 ft. long and 3-noded; simple rays slender, filiform, 3/4–1 in. long. Spatheoles narrowly lanceolate, finely acuminate, 1 1/4–1 1/2 in. long, scarious, reddish-brown, glabrous, permanently boat-shaped, 1 lin. wide in profile; peduncles filiform, 8–15 lin. long, recurved, laterally exserted from the spatheoles, always shorter than these, pubescent upwards, and with long spreading tubercle-based hairs from the curvature. Racemes at length epinastically reflexed, somewhat dense, 2/3 to almost 1 in. long, about 8–12-awned per pair, glabrous or nearly so except on the joints and pedicels, dark purplish or olive-brown; bases rarely over 1/2 lin. long, dark-pubescent on the inside, often with long rigid hairs near the tips, the longer produced into a dark short ovate auricle; joints filiform, obliquely truncate, a little over 1 lin. long, shortly ciliate, cilia pale, up to 1/2 lin. long; pedicels similar, slightly longer, with a minute auricle. Homogamous pair of spikelets 1 at the base of the lower raceme only. Fertile spikelets linear-oblong, including the callus up to 2–2 1/4 lin. long, olive-green with reddish tips or dark purple; callus very short, obtuse, minutely bearded. Glumes equal, lower subchartaceous, minutely truncate, dorsally flat, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs, margins very narrowly involute, slightly inflexed towards the tips, keels short, scabrid, nerves 9; upper glume membranous, obtuse, glabrous, ciliate upwards, 3-nerved. Lower floret reduced to a linear-oblong hyaline obtuse almost nerveless reversedly ciliate valve. Upper floret hermaphrodite: valve stipitiform, minutely 2-lobed, lobes 1/2 lin. long, eciliate; awn 5–7 lin. long, fine, column pale brown, shortly pubescent; valvule reduced to a broad oblong hyaline glabrous scale, 1/2 lin. long. Anthers not quite 1 lin. long. Pedicelled spikelets ♂, linear-lanceolate, acute, up to 2 1/2 lin. long, usually dark; glumes equal, lower firmly chartaceous, sometimes mucronulate, 9-nerved, upper 3-nerved; valves hyaline, reversedly ciliate, lower up to 2 lin. long, 3-nerved, upper linear, spatheolate, emarginate, 1-nerved.
