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Lemmas up to 11 mm. long, chartaceous to subcartilaginous, pale green often tinged with purple, dorsally verruculose or scabrous, the 2 apical lobes either acute or drawn out into fine bristles; awn inserted dorsally around the middle, up to 20 mm. long, geniculate and twisted beneath the bend.
Panicle 10-38 cm. long, linear, narrowly oblong to narrowly elliptic, sometimes dense and with the branches more or less uppressed to the rhachis, but usually loose and open, erect or somewhat nodding; rhachis slender, flexuous; branches in groups of 2-4, filiform, scaberulous.
Glumes firmly membranous, with the margins hyaline, acute to acuminate, usually not much shorter than the lowermost lemma; the inferior 5-10 mm. long, lanceolate-oblong, 2-3-nerved; the superior 6.5-10.5 mm. long, narrowly elliptic, 3-5-nerved.
Leaf-laminae 10-40 x 0.2-0.5 cm., usually expanded, tapering to a fine point, glabrous or rarely scattered pilose.
Culm 30-125(150) cm. tall, 2-5-noded, usually simple, erect or geniculately ascending, glabrous and smooth.
Leaf-sheaths striate, smooth and usually glabrous, the lowermost persistent and often tinged with brown.
Paleas 2/3-4/5 the length of the lemmas, narrowly oblong, with the keels ciliolate.
Ligule c. 3 mm. long, rounded, entire or sometimes lacerate.
Spikelets 8-14 mm. long, 2-3-flowered, green or purplish.
Perennial up to 1·5 m. high.
Anthers 2.5-3.5 mm. long.
Caryopsis c. 3 mm. long.
A caespitose perennial.