Ellisochloa papposa (Nees) P.M.Peterson & N.P.Barker

Tufted perennial; culms 30-1200 mm high. Leaf blade 7-300 x 1-8 mm, not deciduous at ligule; ligule a fringe of hairs or a ciliate membrane. Inflorescence a dense panicle, contracted, 25-300 x 5-30 mm. Spikelets 7-24 mm long, lanceolate or cuneate, laterally compressed; glumes ± equal, 13-18 mm long, 3-nerved. Florets 2-6; breaking up at maturity and disarticulating below each fertile floret; rachilla internodes not elongated between glumes; callus pubescent, pungent; glumes 7-22 mm long; paleas as long as lemmas, shorter or longer than spikelet, elliptic to lanceolate, chartaceous or membranous, persistent, 1-11-veined. Lemmas 4-11 mm long, oblong chartaceous, 9-veined, with a transverse row of hair tufts, bearing 2-8 tufts in all, apex bilobed and awned between lobes at sinus; awn 3-18 mm long, either geniculate or with a straight column. Paleas as long as or shorter than lemma, 2-veined. Stamens 3; anthers 1-5 mm long; lodiculae 2. Flowering time Dec., Jan. Caryopsis with adherent pericarp.