Loosely tufted perennial; culms knotty at the base, 2040 cm high, erect, geniculately ascending or procumbent in the lower part and rooting from the nodes. Leaf-blades 3-9 cm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, scaberulous; ligule 0.7-1.2 mm long, obtuse. Panicle 4-12 cm long, narrow, dense, the spikelets clustered about the short primary branches. Spikelets 2.4-3.4 mm long; glumes subequal, narrowly lanceolate-acuminate, four-fifths to as long as the spikelet; lemma 2.2-3.2 mm long, usually equalling or shorter than the glumes, sometimes exceeding them, hairy in the lower part, minutely notched at the tip and bearing a fine awn 8-10 mm long.