Loosely to densely tufted perennial; culms 10-90 cm high, erect or spreading, sometimes prostrate and rooting from the lower nodes, slender. Leaf-blades 5-14(-30) cm long, 2-4(-6) mm wide, folded when young, with or without auricles up to 3 mm long at the base. Spikes straight or slightly curved, 3-30 cm long, stiff, slender to moderately stout, the spikelets usually less than their own length apart but sometimes more widely spaced. Spikelets 5-20 mm long, 3-10 (-14)-flowered; upper glume 3.5-15 mm long, one-third to as long as the spikelet, rarely exceeding it, 3-9-nerved, acute or obtuse; lemmas oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 3.5-9 mm long, smooth, obtuse or subacute, not turgid at maturity, usually awnless but rarely with an awn up to 8 mm long.