Tall, pallid tussock with inflorescences pink-tinged; leaf-blade persisting on leaf-sheath or caducous at ligule. Leaf-sheath glabrous or internerves with long or short hairs, entire, becoming fibrous, keeled, usually with apical tuft of hairs. Ligule to 1 mm. Leaf-blade keeled, flat or U-shaped or involute, abaxially glabrous but sometimes long hairy on emergent leaf-blades, scabrid apically, adaxially usually with prickle-teeth or less frequently papillae; margin usually with long hairs below, becoming prickle-toothed. Culm to 1 m, internodes glabrous. Inflorescence glabrous, or glabrous below becoming scabrid or stiff hairy above, some long hairs at branch axils and some short hairs below spikelet, sometimes branches and pedicels with mixed short and long hairs. Spikelets of up to 9 lightly purpled or straw coloured florets. Glumes chartaceous, glabrous, acute, < nearest lemma lobes; lower to 11 mm, 1-3-5-nerved, upper to 14 mm, 5-7-9-nerved. Lemma to 6 mm; hairs dense on margin and aside central nerve, fewer or absent elsewhere, < sinus; lateral lobes to 6 mm including awn to 3 mm, or usually long triangular-acute; central awn to 16 mm from 2 mm twisting or flat column. Palea to 8 mm. Callus to 1.5 mm, hairs to 3 mm. Rachilla to 1 mm. Lodicules to 1 mm. Anthers to 5 mm. Gynoecium: ovary to 1 mm; stigma-styles to 3 mm. Caryopsis to 3.5 mm. 2n= 42.
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