Loosely tufted, erect or somewhat decumbent perennial; culms flattened, 50-90 cm. high, glabrous; lower sheaths crowded, densely villous, the upper distant, elongate, glabrous or nearly so; ligule erose, truncate, about 1 mm. long; blades flat, mostly 8-15 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, sparsely pilose on both surfaces; pan-icles 12-20 cm. long, suberect or nodding, the branches usually ascending, some-what flexuous, some of them naked at the base for 1-2 cm., as much as 7 cm. long; spikelets 5-8 mm. long, 2-to 3-flowered; glumes shorter than the spikelet, the first 4-5 mm. long, 1-nerved, narrow, acuminate, the second much broader, 5-6 mm. long, 3-nerved, abruptly acuminate; lemmas lanceolate, slightly toothed, 5-nerved, scabrous and minutely wrinkled on the back, the lowest one 5-6 mm. long; awn 7-10 mm. long, twisted in the lower third, inserted about one-third from the tip of the lemma.
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