Tufted perennial; culms to 1 m high. Leaves glabrous, smooth; blade flat or inrolled, to 20 cm long and 1.5–5 mm wide; ligule truncate to acute, 1.5–5 mm long. Inflorescence a slender, erect panicle, to 25 cm long. Spikelets 2–6-flowered, 8–15 mm long (excluding awns), green; glumes obtuse to acute, often erose at apex, the lower 3–5-nerved, 3–5.5 mm long, the upper 5–7-nerved, 3.5–7 mm long; lemma 4–7.5 mm long, smooth or minutely papillose, swollen in the lower part, gently constricted above the level of the grain, apical teeth 4 but the lateral pair often rudimentary so that the appearance is of 2 shallowly notched lobes, the sinus between them being 0.5–1.5 mm; awn 8–16 mm long, inserted 20–35% of the lemma length from the apex, column 3–5 mm long; palea from one-half to three-quarters as long as lemma. Flowers Oct.–Dec.