Tufted perennial, 200-800 mm high; basal sheaths splitting into fibres. Leaf blade up to 250 x 2-6 mm, flat; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a panicle, branches flexuous, spreading at maturity. Spikelet 4.0-5.5 mm long, laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes; glumes ± equal, as long as to longer than spikelet, lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, keels scaberulous. Floret 1, bisexual; rachilla produced as a hairy bristle; lemma less firm than glumes, hairy all over or only below middle, 5-nerved, awned from lowest quarter near base; awn up to 7 mm long, very fine, bent and twisted; palea subequal to shorter than lemma; callus short-hairy; anther 1.2-2.5 mm long. Flowering time Nov.-Mar.
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