Slender tufted perennial, culms erect, to 80 cm high, nodes, culms and sheaths pubescent. Leaf blades flat, to c. 30 cm long and 10 mm wide, pilose; ligule membranous, truncate or obtuse, 1–5 mm long. Inflorescence a raceme of up to 8(–12) spikelets; pedicels 0.5–2 mm long. Spikelets narrow-lanceolate, 18–40 mm long (excluding awns), 8–16-flowered; lower glume 5–7-nerved, 6–8 mm long, upper glume 7–9-nerved, 8–11 mm long. both glumes cilate, at least on margin; body of lemma 7–11 mm long, margin ciliate in upper half, awn about as long as lemma body; palea equal to or slightly shorter than body of lemma, ciliate along margins in upper half. Flowers Jan.–Feb. (2 records)
GipP. Known in Victoria (and Australia) only from the margin of a Melaleuca ericifolia scrub near Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula. Native to Europe, western Asia and north-west Africa.
