Loosely tufted short-lived perennial; culms (15-)40-80(-150)cm high, erect or spreading, sometimes geniculate at the base. Leaf-blades flat, 5-20cm long, 1-2(-4)mm wide, flaccid, gradually tapering to a stout point, scaberulous on the margins and both surfaces; ligule rounded, 1-3mm long. Panicle narrowly pyramidal 10-20(-30)cm long, spreading; branches mostly in distant clusters of 3-6, scabrid. Spikelets 2-5-flowered, ovate to oblong, 3-5mm long, yellowish-green or purplish; glumes lanceolate to narrowly ovate, the lower 2-3 mm long, 1-3-nerved, the upper broader, 2.5-3 mm long, 3-nerved; lemmas narrowly oblong in side-view, 2.5-3 mm long, obtuse, ciliate on the keel and marginal nerves, with sparse wool at the base; palea almost as long as the lemma, scabrid along the keels; anthers 1.3-1.5 long.