Pedicelled spikelets 10–11 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, pilose with white hairs on the back, pectinate-ciliate on the margins, terminating in a slender bristle 11–22 mm long; callus c. 0.5 mm long, oblong; pedicel-tooth short, triangular.
Sessile spikelets c. 9 mm long; callus 2.5–3 mm long, pungent; inferior glume lanceolate, pubescent; awns 7.5–11 cm long, the column fulvously pilose with hairs up to 1.5 mm long.
Homogamous spikelets 11–16 mm long, a single pair at the base of each raceme, shortly pilose with white hairs on the back, pectinate-ciliate on the margins.
Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf laminas up to 25 cm × 9 mm, dull green.
Slender annual; culms up to 90 cm high, erect.