Compact or loosely tufted rhizomatous perennial; culms 5–30 cm. high, slender, erect. Leaf-sheaths striate, glabrous or pilose on the margins; blades linear, 1–2(–7) cm. long, 1–2(–4) mm. wide, straight or abruptly tapering at the base, pilose or glabrous, closely appressed to the culms, rarely spreading or deflexed, bluntly acute. Panicle oblong, contracted, 1–2(–4) cm. long, sparsely branched, glabrous. Spikelets ovate-oblong, 2–3 mm. long, striate, glabrous, blunt; lower glume ovate, 3/4 to as long as the spikelet, (3–)5(–7)-nerved; upper glume ovate, 7-nerved, acute or bluntly acuminate; lower lemma (5–)7-nerved, ♂, its palea well developed; upper lemma pale, glossy.