Plant loosely tufted; shoots extravaginal. Culms 60–80 cm tall, nodes 2–3. Leaf sheaths glabrous; auricles absent; leaf blades conduplicate, 7–22 cm × 0.8–1.5 mm, veins 7–9(–13); adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands absent, adaxial sclerenchyma present on tops of ribs, abaxial sclerenchyma in broad bands, some reaching vascular bundles, or continuous beneath epidermis; ligule 0.2–0.4 mm, margin ciliate. Panicle loose, open, 15–20 cm; branches 4–8 cm, 2 at lowest node. Spikelets 8–10 mm, greenish or purplish; florets 3(–4); glumes glabrous; lower glume narrowly lanceolate, 3.5–4 mm; upper glume broadly lanceolate, 4.5–5 mm; rachilla internodes 1.3–1.5 mm; lemmas 6–7 mm, scabrid; awns (0.5–)0.8–1.5 mm; palea keels scabrid. Anthers 3–3.3 mm. Ovary apex sparsely hairy. Fl. and fr. Aug.