Massive, lush green dioecious tussocks to 1.5 m, from short, narrow, woody stolons, with shoots covered at base by abundant fibrous remnants of sheaths; branching extravaginal; leaf-blades persistent. Leaf-sheath light brown, coriaceous, glabrous, closely striate, keel prominent above. Ligule 1-3 mm, apically glabrous, entire, rounded, abaxially finely scabrid. Leaf-blade 15-40-(50) cm × (1)-3-6 mm, coriaceous, tough, flat, abaxially smooth with prominent midrib and many lateral ribs, adaxially short-scabrid, two prominent ridges along centre; margins thickened, smooth, tip straight-sided, smooth, semi-pungent. Culm 20-40-(60) cm, internodes glabrous. Panicle 10-25 cm, dense, with all branches, except the longer ones, bearing spikelets almost to base; rachis and branches smooth or with very occasional prickle-teeth. Spikelets (5.5)-7-9 mm, (3)-4-6-flowered, light greenish brown. Glumes subequal, long-acuminate, membranous, except for thickened nerves, smooth, but with a few prickle-teeth on nerves above and occasionally on margins; lower 3-5-(6) mm, 1-(3)-nerved, narrow-lanceolate, upper 4-5.5-(6.5) mm, 3-nerved, narrow elliptic-lanceolate. Lemma 5-6-(7) mm, 5-nerved, acute or with midnerve very shortly excurrent, scabrid except near base, midnerve ciliate to more than halfway, outer lateral nerves, internerves, and margins with minute hairs in lower ⅓. Palea 3.5-4.5 mm, keel rather densely ciliate-scabrid, interkeel and flanks with sparse minute hairs and prickle-teeth. Callus with large tuft of crinkled hairs just below midnerve of lemma and a few hairs below lateral nerves. Rachilla c. 0.5 mm, glabrous. Lodicules 0.4-0.7 mm, occasionally hair-tipped. Dioecious: ♂ with anthers (2)-2.5-3.3 mm, gynoecium 0; ♀ with pollen-sterile anthers c. 0.6-1 mm, often on long filaments; stigma-styles c. 2 mm; caryopsis c. 2 mm; rarely ☿. 2n= 28. Plate 4A.
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