Ctenium newtonii Hack.

Tufted wiry perennial, the base not markedly fibrous or chaffy; culms up to 1 m. high.. Leaf-blades 5–25 cm. long, up to 4 mm. wide, tightly involute, rarely expanded.. Spike solitary, (5–)7–20(–30) cm. long, almost straight or coiled in a lax corkscrew spiral, puberulous or shortly pubescent at the summit of the peduncle.. Upper glume 4–7 mm. long, glabrous except for the scabrid keel; lowest lemma oblong-elliptic, 1.5–2 mm. long, ciliate on marginal nerves and keel, glabrous or very rarely sparsely pubescent between them, usually obtuse, dorsally awned; second lemma narrowly ovate, 2–2.5 mm. long, ciliate on marginal nerves and sometimes also on the keel, otherwise glabrous or rarely sparsely pubescent, produced into an oblong tongue above the subterminal insertion of the awn; fertile lemma ovate, 2–4 mm. long, ciliate on the marginal nerves, awned from the minutely bidentate tip with an awn 2.5–3 mm. long.

Usually on poor or shallow soils.