Perennial; culms 1-2 m. high, erect, simple, leafy to the summit; sheaths much longer than the internodes, compressed, papillose-hispid in the throat and on the margins toward the summit; ligule 1.5-2 mm. long; blades 35-75 cm. long, 14-18 mm. wide, the uppermost greatly reduced, narrowed toward the base, acuminate, glabrous on the lower surface, sparsely pubescent or pilose on the upper, the mar-gins sharply serrate; panicle scarcely exserted, composed of 6-10 heavy ascending or drooping racemes 8-12 cm. long, the axis 5-15 cm. long; rachis 1-1.5 mm. wide with a tuft of long hairs at the base, the margins serrate; spikelets 3.5-3.9 mm. long, paired, closely imbricate, abruptly acute; glume and sterile lemma equal, pointed beyond the fruit, the glume obscurely to rather prominently silky-ciliate toward the summit, otherwise glabrous or obscurely pubescent, the sterile lemma glabrous; fruit 3 mm. long, elliptic, pale, minutely striate.
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