Stoloniferous, often forming colonies stretching to 80-(160) m along sand dunes, with much-branched, knotted, rope-like, hard, creeping culms. Leaf-sheath coriaceous, strongly-nerved, silky-hairy. Ligule a minute ciliate rim, hairs very dense to 6 mm. Leaf-blade c. 30 cm, inrolled and c. 1.5 mm diam., coriaceous, strongly nerved, silky-villous. Culm 2.5-6 mm diam., internodes glabrous, silky-villous below inflorescence. Dioecious: ♂ inflorescence with numerous pedunculate racemes, 5-12 cm, bearing up to 15 silky-villous spikelets, and terminated by a short bristle c. 1 cm; raceme clusters subtended by spathaceous bracts ≤ raceme. ♂ spikelets 10 cm; glumes ≤ spikelet, 7-9-nerved; lemmas similar to glumes but less villous, 5-nerved; each floret with 2 emarginate lodicules 0.6 × 0.3 mm, and 3 pollen-filled anthers to 6 mm, at anthesis flexible on long filaments from open florets. ♀ inflorescence very conspicuous, globular, appearing spiny with strict bracts to 15 cm, disarticulating from culm at maturity and wheeling along sand; spikelets solitary, hidden at base of bract, 15-18 mm; glumes = spikelet, 5-7-nerved, silky-villous; lemmas shorter, less villous, rather chartaceous, 3-5-nerved; lower floret Ø, consisting of 2 lodicules, and 3 pollenless white, rudimentary anthers, 0.7-1 mm, on stout filaments, gynoecium 0; upper floret ♀, larger, with 2 lodicules c. 1 × 1 mm, and 3 stamens with stout filaments bearing white, pollenless anthers up to 1.5 mm; ovary 1.5-2 mm, stigma-styles 17-20 mm; caryopsis free, c. 4.5-5 × 2.5 mm; embryo 3 mm; hilum 0.75-1.0 mm, in a broad depression. 2n= 18. Plate 5A.
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