Perennial. Culms between 2 and 3 ft. high, rather stout below, terete, glabrous, 5–6-noded, with some barren branches from the lower nodes. Leaf-sheaths terete, softly hairy to villous with the exception of the glabrous base above the bearded internodes; ligules very short, truncate, glabrous; blades linear from an equally wide base, long-tapering to a fine point, up to 7 or 8 in. long and over 2 lin. wide (flattened out), softly hirsute to villous on both sides, midrib white, slender below, wider above, lateral nerves numerous and close. Spatheate panicle very scanty, narrow, up to almost 1 ft. long; primary internodes about 4, the lowest up to 4 in. long, the following very gradually decreasing; primary tiers (the lowest branch sometimes undivided at the base) 2–3-rayed, compound rays, if any, up to 3-noded, very slender, flexuous and suberect; simple rays up to 2 or even 2 1/2 in. long, very fine; subtending leaves like the preceding ones with upwards rapidly reduced blades. Spatheoles narrowly lanceolate, acute, 9–10 lin. long, subherbaceous, sparingly hairy, suffused with purple; peduncles 3–5 lin. long, enclosed in the spatheole, pubescent. Racemes laterally exserted from the middle of the spatheole, consisting of 2 sessile and 3 pedicelled spikelets; joint and pedicels filiform, about 2 lin. long, densely silky. Sessile spikelets linear-oblong, up to 2 1/2 lin. long, including the callus, which is up to 1/2 lin. long and silky-bearded. Glumes equal; lower truncate, coriaceous, brown, convex and smooth on the back, pale and scaberulous or puberulous at the tips, indistinctly 7-nerved, sides rounded far beyond the middle, then keeled, keels scabrid; upper glume oblong, truncate to subemarginate, slightly keeled upwards, 3- to sub-5-nerved, ciliate, with a terminal bristle 4–5 lin. long. Lower floret reduced to an oblong obtuse hyaline sub-2-nerved upwards ciliate valve, 2 lin. long. Upper floret hermaphrodite: valve linear-cuneate, 2-fid to the middle, with acute narrow lobes; awn 1–1 3/4 in. long, kneed and twisted below the middle, column brown, scaberulous, bristle somewhat paler. Anthers 1 lin. long. Pedicelled spikelet ♂, very narrowly linear-lanceolate, long and finely acuminate, 3 1/2–4 lin. long; glumes subequal, lower 7–10-nerved, upper slightly shorter, 3–5-nerved, delicately ciliate; lower valve 2 1/2 lin. long, like that of the lower floret in the sessile spikelet; anthers 2 lin. long.
