Loosely tufted perennial; culms 70–120 cm. high, erect.. Leaf-blades flat, up to 20 cm. long and 3 mm. wide, glabrous.. Panicle linear to narrowly oblong, 15–25 cm. long, loose to moderately dense, the branches scaberulous, slender, ascending.. Spikelets lanceolate, 3–4 mm. long, green or purplish, shining; glumes persistent, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, the upper a little shorter than the lower, 1-nerved, smooth except for the serrately scabrid keel, acute; lemma narrowly oblong-ovate, 2.5–3 mm. long, loosely pilose with hairs up to 1 mm. long, clearly 5-nerved, the outermost nerves excurrent into short mucros, awned from one-third the way up the back; awn weakly geniculate, 3.5–5 mm. long; palea almost as long as the lemma; rhachilla-extension variable, 0–0.5 mm. long, hairy.
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