Tufted perennial; culms 30–100 cm. high, wiry, geniculately ascending (the lower part sometimes forming stolons), bulbous and clad in tomentose scales at the base.. Leaf-blades linear-lanceolate, 3–12 cm. long, 2–4 mm. wide.. Inflorescence of 12–35 long stiff radiating racemes, the lower whorled, the upper irregularly disposed upon a common axis 6–18 cm. long, the whole inflorescence breaking off at maturity; racemes up to 10–25 cm. long with slender triquetrous rhachis, the lower 1/2–3/4 of its length glabrous and bare of spikelets, the rest bearing distant pairs of tiny appressed spikelets.. Spikelets narrowly oblong, 1.1–1.3 mm. long; both glumes absent; lower lemma as long as the spikelet, ribbed with 5 evenly spaced nerves and glabrous, or reduced to a little triangular scale; fruit ellipsoid, light to dark brown.
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