Perennial; basal sheaths persistent, glabrous to tomentose. Culms tufted, erect, 50–60 cm tall, unbranched. Leaf sheaths glabrous or pilose; leaf blades erect, stiff, 5–35 × 0.3–0.9 cm, pubescent to glabrous, margins scabrid, acuminate; ligule scarious, ca. 1 mm. Raceme 1(–2) on a long stiff peduncle, 2–3 cm, greenish, narrowly capitulate. Sessile spikelets 4, involucrelike, 1.3–2.2 cm, 2 florets present; lower glume oblong, leathery, smooth, glabrous or sparsely pilose, apex retuse to obliquely 2-toothed; upper glume puberulous, apex rounded to truncate; lemmas and paleas reddish brown, subhyaline; stamens 2 in each floret; anthers 6–8 mm. Pedicelled spikelets 3, dark brown; pedicel 5–7 mm; callus stiffly bearded, hairs brown; lower glume narrowly lanceolate-oblong, leathery, puberulous; awn 2-geniculate, stout, 6–9.5 cm, column hispidulous, limb shorter than column, puberulous. Fl. and fr. autumn.
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Culms 30–90 cm high, densely tufted, unbranched; nodes glabrous or with silky appressed hairs. Leaves: ligule c. 1.5 mm long; blade 7–38 cm long, 3–9 mm wide, flat or folded. Inflorescence a solitary, short, capitate raceme 2–3 cm long (excluding awns), rarely 2 racemes closely appressed (reported in Chaianan 1972, not seen in Australian material), raceme internodes greatly contracted
Grows in open Eucalyptus spp. and Melaleuca spp. woodland where it is often found in patches or clumps on sandy soils, often in seasonally inundated areas (Sharp & Simon 2002, Simon & Alfonso 2011, Queensland Herbarium 2012).
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