Tufted perennial with very short rhizomes; culms up to 1.5 m high. Leaf-blades flat, 30-50 cm long, 6-10 mm wide, narrowed at the base. Panicle 10-15 (-20) cm long, spreading, the axis much shorter than the racemes. Spikelets 2-2.5 (-2.8) mm long, the callus bearded with golden-brown hairs 3-4 times as long as the spikelet; lower glume brown, emarginate, hairy on the margins in the lower half with hairs of unequal length, the longest 2-3 times as long as the glume; upper lemma bidentate, with a straight or flexuous awn 9-13 mm long.