Tufted perennial 150-700 mm high. Leaf blade 100-500 x to 3.5 mm. Inflorescence spike-like, 20-100 mm long; spikelets distichous. Spikelet to 18 (including awns) x to 3 mm; glumes 9-20 mm long, 1-3-nerved; 2(-5)-flowered; lemma 10-15 mm long (including lobes); lobes 7-9 mm long, awns long; margins hairy, with tufts of white hairs on the margins near the base; central awn 10-16 mm long, geniculate; anther 4.0-5.5 mm long.
Perennial; 0.7 m high; tufted. Leaf blades up to 100-500 x 3.5 mm. Flowers: panicle spike-like; distichous; 20-100 mm long; spikelets up to 18 x 3 mm; including awns; 2(-5)-flowered; glumes 9-20 mm long; 1-3-nerved; lemmas 10-15 mm long; including 7-9 mm long lobes which attenuate into a long bristle; lemmas fringed along margins with tuft of white hairs each side near base; central awn geniculate; 10-16 mm long.
Perennial to 40 cm. Leaves linear, rolled. Spikelets distichous in a spike-like panicle, straw-coloured and green, glumes 1-3-nerved, lemmas 10-15 mm long, fringed on margins, with a basal tuft of white hairs on each side, awns 10-16 mm long, geniculate.