Plants forming large hummocks, highly resinous on leaves and sometimes spikelets. Leaves: sheaths glabrous, not auriculate; orifice bearded with resin-matted hairs c. 5 mm long; blade straight, tightly conduplicate, 25–30 cm long, 0.5–1.2 mm wide, with pseudopetiole 2–5 mm long, with prickly scabrous margins, shortly pungent. Panicles loose, 20–25 cm long, 5–7 cm wide, hairy in primary branch axils; branches 8–10 cm long, simple or lower ones sparsely divided, triquetrous. Spikelets close together or distant, broadly elliptic, 3.3–4 mm long, c. 2.3 mm wide; pedicel 1.5–2 (–5) mm long; florets 3, with lower 2 bisexual, closely appressed; upper floret sterile, globular, terminal on filiform rachilla internode to 2 mm long. Glumes ±equal, elliptic or oblong, 2.5–3.5 mm long, obtuse or truncate, entire, muticous, chartaceous, rounded on back, 3-nerved, glabrous, pale brown at maturity. Basal lemma elliptic, 3.5–3.8 mm long, entire or minutely 3-toothed, muticous, bitextured (lower part indurated and smooth, upper 1 mm cartilaginous to scarious and thickly 3–5-nerved), glabrous. Palea subequal to lemma, elliptic, 2-lobed or entire, indurated at base, cartilaginous above; keels winged. Anthers c. 2 mm long. Fig. 38 I–K (p. 250).
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