perennial, densely cæspitose; rhizome much branched; branches short, densely covered with the imbricate persistent sheath-bases and sheaths; culms erect, very slender, 2–6 in. long, glabrous, smooth, 1-noded; sheaths of the barren shoots and basal leaves short, broad, closely imbricate, firm, glabrous, smooth, of the culms narrow, tight, scarcely striate; ligule a minutely ciliolate rim; blades ovate or lanceolate to linear, obtuse to truncate, the lower 2–6 lin. by 1/2– 3/4 lin., flat or folded, very rigid, spreading, glaucous, glabrous, smooth or scaberulous above, margins cartilaginous, smooth; panicle erect, ovate, 1–2 in. by 1–1 1/2 in. very lax; branches solitary, obliquely erect, capillary, smooth, branched from the middle; branchlets divaricate, usually simple, 2–4-spiculate; pedicels very fine, longer than the spikelets, the latter subsecund, purplish, 7/8 lin. long; glumes obtuse, ovate-oblong, the lower equalling rather more than 1/3 of the spikelet, nerveless, hyaline, the upper slightly exceeding 1/2 of the spikelet, 1-nerved; valve broadly oblong, subobtuse in profile, 3-nerved; pale equalling the valve; stamens 3; anthers 1/2 lin. long; grain orbicular-elliptic, 5/8 lin. long, half as thick as broad, rounded at the back; testa mucilaginous. null
