Perennial. Stems slender, scabrid on the angles, glabrous to softly villous, 30-90 cm by 1-3 mm. Leaves equally distributed along the stem, gradually narrowed to the acutish tip, glabrous to densely pubescent with long, white hairs, scabrid on the margins in the upper part, 3-8 mm wide; sheaths narrow, narrowly to broadly winged (at least part of them), the wings retrorsely scabrous on the margin; contraligule short, semi-orbicular, densely hirsute, on the top (always?) with a short (sometimes up to 2 mm long), triangular or ovate scarious appendage. Inflorescence narrow, consisting of a terminal panicle and 1-2 smaller, lateral ones; terminal panicle oblong, 5-12 cm long, with obliquely erect branches; lateral panicles often almost spike-like, thin and loose, their peduncles exserted from the leaf-sheaths, scabrid; primary bracts overtopping the inflorescence, secondary ones setaceous, longer than their branches. Spikelets unisexual, in clusters of 2-4; ♂ spikelets oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 mm long; stamens 3; anthers linear, c. 2 mm long; ♀ spikelets ovate, 4-6 mm long, a sterile glume (vestige of the ♂ part) usually present; glumes ovate, acute or mucronulate. Disk deeply 3-lobed; lobes thin, lanceolate, appressed to the nut, acute, often bidentate at the top, brown, 1-1½ mm long. Nut globose or ovoid-globose, terete or obscurely trigonous, not exserted from the glumes, apiculate, smooth or slightly transversely rugulose, pubescent, ultimately glabrescent, shining, white, 2-2½ mm long and wide.
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Perennials, stoloniferous. Rhizomes woody, covered with purple scales. Culms laxly tufted or scattered, 70-90 cm tall, 3-5 mm wide, 3-angled, scabrous, pubescent. Leaf sheath 1-8 cm, papery; sheath of leaves at culm base brown, not winged; sheaths on apical half of culm green, wing 1-3 mm wide; contraligule nearly semicircular, short, barbate; leaf blade linear, ca. 30 cm × 7-10 mm. Involucral bracts leaflike, basalmost to 13 cm; bractlets setaceous, auriculate at base, auricles barbate. Inflorescences paniculate, with 1 or 2 lateral branches; branches 3-8 × 1.5-3 cm. Spikelets 1 or 2 in a cluster, brown, unisexual, sessile, ca. 3 mm. Male spikelets narrowly ovoid to oblong-ovoid; glumes 1.5-3 mm, keeled, thickly membranous. Female spikelets usually at basal part of branch, narrowly ovoid; glumes oblong-ovate, broadly ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, keeled, with rust-colored short lines. Male flowers: stamens 3; anthers linear, ca. 1.3 mm. Female flowers: stigmas 3. Disk pale yellow, slightly narrower than nutlet, deeply 3-lobed; lobes lanceolate-triangular, margin reflexed. Nutlet white, spherical to ovoid, ca. 2 mm in diam., bluntly 3-sided, ± smooth to rugulose, apex tipped. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.
Open forests (often in teak-forests), brushwood, savannahs, fallow rice-fields, etc., at low and medium altitudes, up to 1500 m.
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