Tufted perennial (20-)55-110 cm high. Leaf-blades involute and setaceous, 1-2 mm wide when flattened, glabrous to faintly scaberulous on the lower (outer) surface; ligule 3.5-17 mm long. Panicle narrow, contracted but not dense, 10-25 (-40) cm long, partially enclosed in the inflated sheath of the uppermost leaf. Glumes subequal, lanceolate and long-acuminate, 25-35 mm long, the lower 3-nerved, the upper 5-nerved; lemma ± terete, 10-14 mm long (including callus), hairy with the hairs in several straight lines, glabrous at the tip; callus acuminate, pungent, 2.5-4 mm long. Awn bigeniculate, articulated at the base, 12-18 cm long, scabrid throughout.