Culms 40-80 cm tall. Blades linear, 8-20 cm long by 4-15 mm wide; ligule chartceous, tongue-shaped, minutely hispid on backside, 2-3 mm long. Panicle open, usually no branch developing, about 10-20 cm long. Spikelets nodding, 1-2-florets, persistent , not falling off when mature, 2-2.5 cm long; glumes subequal, chartaceous, margin hyaline, rounded on the backside, 7-11-nerved, sometimes connected with tessellate nerves; lemma stiff, hairy on the lower half, 7-9-nerved, awnless or with a long straight awn arising from the backside; palea shorter than the lemma, minutely hairy on the two keels. Caryopsis hairy; tightly enclosed between the lemma and palea, hilum linear.