Low-growing, flattish, or erect, often silky-hairy, green to yellow-green, tight tufts, shortly rhizomatous; leaves usually « culms, stiffly long-hairy but not invariably so, disarticulating at ligule; branching intravaginal, shoots crowded, ± swollen at base. Leaf-sheath mostly hairy; apical tuft of hairs 1.5-2.5 mm, often extending dorsally below blade. Ligule c. 0.4 mm. Leaf-blade to 12 cm, acicular, inrolled, often with long hairs, margins thickened, scabrid. Culm to 30 cm, internodes often slightly short-hairy below inflorescence otherwise glabrous. Racemose panicle or raceme small, to 3.5 cm, erect, of few spikelets on short stiff pedicels; rachis and pedicels closely short-scabrid with longer stiff hairs below spikelets and at branch axils. Spikelets 4-7-flowered, awns exserted from glumes. Glumes purplish centrally, often with regular horizontal bars, ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or subobtuse, (6)-7-10 mm, ± equal; lower 7-nerved, upper 5-nerved, occasionally long-hairy between nerves. Lemma 2-2.5 mm, 9-nerved, upper and lower rows of hairs dense, continuous, upper row < lemma lobes, lower row ± overlapping upper, some few hairs elsewhere; lobes 1.5-3 mm, tapering, usually tipped by fine awn; central awn 3-5 mm, column 1-1.5 mm, > upper lemma hairs. Palea 3-5 mm, ≈ upper lemma hairs, interkeel glabrous or occasional long hairs, margins long-hairy. Callus 0.4-0.6 mm, marginal hair tufts overlapping lower lemma hairs. Rachilla 0.5-0.6 mm. Anthers 0.3-0.5 mm. Caryopsis 1.3-1.5 × 0.7-0.8 mm; embryo c. 0.7 mm; hilum c. 0.3 mm. Plate 12A.
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