Perennial; culms 60-90 cm. high, simple or sparingly branched, pubescent at and below the nodes; lower sheaths shorter than the internodes, the upper somewhat crowded, pilose on the margins toward the base, hispid-ciliate at the mouth, often auriculate, the auricles as much as 7 mm. long; blades 8-15 cm. long, 2.5-4.5 cm. wide, acute, nearly sym-metrical, glabrous; spike 10-12 cm. long, bearing 5-9 erect spikelets, the axis densely pubescent; spikelets 20-24 mm. long; lower bracts 2-3 mm. long, the first two narrow, awned, the other two very broad, awnless, strongly nerved, irregularly dentate; lemmas as long as or a little shorter than the lodicules, tapering into an awn 7-10 cm. long, becoming slender and finally contorted in the upper third; divisions of the palea acuminate, 14-15 mm. long.
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