Coarse stoloniferous perennial; culms as much as several meters long and 1 Cm. thick, long decumbent-spreading, rooting at the lower nodes, usually forming tangled masses; stolons as much as 5 m. long with erect sparingly branching flower-ing culms 0.7-2 m. tall; nodes glabrous to densely bearded; sheaths rather loose, about as long as the relatively short internodes, nearly glabrous, the margins densely ciliate; ligule firm, about 0.7 mm. long; blades 20-60 cm. long, 1.2-3 cm. wide, acuminate, glabrous to sparsely papillose-pilose, the margins very scabrous; inflores-cence flabellate, composed of 7-30 ascending to spreading racemes, 7-17 cm. long, aggregate on a rather short stout axis; spikelets 4-5 mm. long, solitary, imbricate, elliptic, abruptly acuminate, the first glume often developed; second glume and sterile lemma equal, pointed beyond the fruit, glabrous, or the margins usually silky-ciliate; fruit 3.7-3.8 mm. long, light brown, smooth and shining.
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