Cushion-forming (usually) perennial 150-200 mm high, forming small tufts; basal sheaths white, shiny, persistent; leaves basal; glands absent. Leaf blade 40-100 x 0.5 mm, rolled, rigid, glabrous, apex sometimes pungent; margins smooth; sheath mouth glabrous. Inflorescence 20-60 x 7-15 mm, contracted, almost spike-like, with 5-15(25) spikelets; pedicels mostly erect, glabrous; axils hairy. Spikelet 6-8 mm long, greenish; glumes acuminate, hyaline, glabrous; lemma 3 mm long, hairy; lateral awns 2-5 mm long, extending up to glume apices; central awn 8-12 mm long; palea glabrous; anthers 14-1.8 mm long.
Neatly tufted perennial to 30 cm tall. Leaves linear, sometimes somewhat pungent. Spikelets 7-8 mm long, in a contracted panicle, lemmas awned.