Erect annual or short-lived perennial tufts, 15-60 cm; branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath rounded, membranous, light green to cream, or light brown with strong, paler ribs, ± glabrous and shining to densely pubescent, shredding into fibres at maturity. Ligule 0.3-0.6 mm, membranous, truncate, erose, abaxially ciliate. Leaf-blade 3-6 cm × 0.5-0.9 mm diam., strongly involute, ± densely pubescent, tip subacute. Culm erect, slender, nodes pubescent, internodes ± villous especially near nodes. Panicle 4-8 cm, rather dense to ± lax, shortly and narrowly branched; rachis glabrous to pubescent, branches pubescent. Spikelets 1-flowered, 12-20 mm, light greenish brown to purplish; disarticulation above glumes; rachilla very shortly prolonged. Glumes subequal, 1-3-nerved, submembranous, acute to shortly mucronate, keeled, keel scabrid; lower 1-nerved, upper 3-nerved. Lemma 3.2-4.5 mm, 5-nerved, chartaceous, firmer than glumes, tightly involute, finely, closely scabrid above, apex 2-lobed with stout geniculate awn from sinus and each lobe tipped by 2 short fine awns; central awn with twisted column 2-6 mm and inclined ± straight arista 6-12 mm, lateral awns straight, 2-7.5 mm. Palea hyaline, shorter and narrower than lemma, 2-keeled, keels short-ciliate near apex. Callus hair-fringed, hairs 1-1.3 mm. Lodicules 2, glabrous. Stamens 3; anthers 0.4-0.7 mm. Ovary glabrous, styles free. Caryopsis c. 2.3 × 0.5-0.8 mm; embryo small; hilum punctiform; endosperm liquid.
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Culms to c. 70 cm high. Leaves scattered along culms; ligule 0.5–2 mm long, truncate; blade flat to usually involute, 1–20 cm long, 0.3–3 mm wide, abruptly pointed or blunt and rounded, stiff and thick, hirsute to rarely ± glabrous or puberulous. Panicles 1–20 cm long, obloid-clylindrical to narrowly ovoid. Spikelets narrowly obovate, 3–10 mm or more long. Glumes smooth or scaberulous along keels: lower glume 3–7.7 (–9) mm long; upper glume 3–8.1 (–10) mm long. Callus hairs to c. 1/4 lemma length, 0.5–2.1 mm long, straight and silky, white. Lemma (3–) 3.5–7 (–8) mm long; median awn to 30 mm long, geniculate, scabrid, with column twisted; lateral awns shorter than median awn, 0.5–17 mm long, straight to curved, scabrid. Anthers 1.2–2.6 mm long.
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