Rhizomatous perennial; culms solitary or loosely tufted, up to 100 cm high. Leaf-blades up to 25 cm long, 3-6 mm wide, pubescent; sheaths densely pubescent. Panicle 10-18 cm long, usually simple, sometimes compound, short or long-branched. Spikelets oblong-lanceolate, 7-11-flowered, (15-)20-35 mm long excluding the awns, purple-tinged; glumes very narrowly lanceolate, pubescent, the lower 7-10 mm long, 1-nerved, the upper 9-14.5 mm long, 3-5-nerved; lemmas oblong-lanceolate, the lower 11-16 mm long, 5-7-nerved, pubescent all over or sometimes less hairy on the back than on the marginal nerves, faintly 2-toothed at the tip with a fine, straight awn 2.5-6 mm long; palea almost as long as the lemma, ciliate on the back and keels; rhachilla, pubescent; anthers (3-)3.5-6(-7) mm long.