Perennial, often stoloniferous, sward forming. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, up to 100 cm tall, 5-or more-noded, nodes bearded. Leaf sheaths keeled; leaf blades linear, 5–20 × 0.1–0.4 cm, tubercle-based hairs on both surfaces or abaxial surface glabrous, apex acute; ligule 0.5–2 mm. Inflorescence composed of 3–5(–)8 racemes, subdigitate; racemes 3–8 cm, tinged purplish; rachis internodes and pedicels ciliate with long silky hairs. Sessile spikelet 3–4.5 mm; lower glume narrowly elliptic, cartilaginous, back concave, 5–7-veined, glossy, sparsely hirtellous to silky-pilose below middle, a circular pit above hairs, 2-keeled, margins keeled and scabrid near apex; awn of upper lemma 1–2 cm. Pedicelled spikelet male or barren, pur-plish, subequal to sessile spikelet, glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jul–Oct. 2n = 40, 60.
Disturbed areas and along roads in notophyll vineforest, deciduous vine thicket, Eucalypt woodland, beach scrub and wooded grassland at elevations up to 760 metres in northern Australia/
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