Tufted perennial, the basal sheaths silky pubescent; culms 60–80 cm. high. Leaf-blades flat, 5–15 cm. long, 3–6 mm. wide, softly pubescent. Inflorescence of 4–7 racemes, each 6–7 cm. long, the rhachis-margins ciliate. Spikelets oblong-elliptic, 4–4.5 mm. long; lower glume suppressed; upper glume 1/3–2/3 as long as the spikelet, shortly awned; lower lemma flat across the back, 7-nerved, strongly laterally keeled, the keels coriaceous and forming a tooth near the tip, hence the latter asymmetrically tridentate with a central awn 1–3 mm. long.