Culms erect, to 140 cm high. Leaves glabrous to sparsely ciliate; blade to 30 cm long and 8 mm wide; ligule membranous, irregularly toothed at apex, to 5 mm long. Inflorescence a slender but open, more or less one-sided panicle to 40 cm long. Spikelets 2–3-flowered; glumes lanceolate, 18–30 mm long, 5–9-nerved; lemma narrow-lanceolate, 12–25 mm long (including apical lobes), with long silky hairs in the lower half, setiform part of apical lobes 3–5 mm long, each occasionally with a shorter lateral bristle; awn 25–50 mm long, inserted about halfway up lemma; palea 2–4 mm shorter than lemma. Florets separating from each other at maturity. Flowers Sep.–Jan.