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Stems 1.3-2 m tall, stout. Leaves 40-70 cm × 4-9 mm, abaxially convex, transverse section semicircular. Male part of spikes 2.7-9 cm, with 1-3 deciduous bracts at base or occasionally in middle portion; female part of spikes not separated from male part, 4.5-15 cm, with 1 deciduous bract at base. Male flowers: stamens 3, rarely 2 or 4; anthers ca. 3 mm. Female flowers without bracteoles; ovary fusiform to lanceolate; stalk ca. 2.5 mm, slender; styles 1.2-2 mm; stigmas spatulate, 0.5-0.8 mm; hairs on stalk ca. as long as style. Fruit elliptic. Fl. and fr. May-Aug. 2n = 60.
Flowering stems usually to 3 m tall. Leaves usually bluish or grey-green; sheath of uppermost 2–4 leaves usually distinctly auriculate; lamina to 2 m long, 5–15 mm wide. Male and female inflorescences contiguous or to 3.5 cm apart, rarely to 5 cm. Male inflorescences usually 10–30 cm long, 0.7–1.4 cm diam.; pollen shed as single grains. Female inflorescences 8–30 cm long, 1–3 cm diam., chestnut-brown; floral bracts absent or few, narrowly spathulate, usually 3 or 4 cells across. Stigma lanceolate or narrowly obovate, often folded longitudinally. [See also Green (1994).]
It is a plant which continues to grow from year to year. It is 2 m high and spreads to 50 cm across. There is an extensive network of fleshy white underground stems or rhizomes. These produce aerial shoots. The stem is erect, stout and round in cross section. The leaves are bluish-green and narrow. They can be 2 m long. The flowers are brown, in erect spikes at the ends of stalks. The flowers are green at first, then turn brown. The flower spike is 30 mm across.
