Robust caespitose perennial. Culms erect, to 1 m high or more. Leaves prominently veined, glabrous or with scattered hairs; blades flat or loosely inrolled, sharp-pointed, to 50 cm long, 2–6 mm wide, scabrous toward the tip, otherwise smooth; ligule truncate, minutely ciliate, c. 0.5 mm long; auricles hardly developed. Inflorescence a distichous spike, 10–40 cm long. Spikelets 10–25 mm long, often curving away from the rachis in the upper part; glumes truncate, 7–11 mm long, the upper longer than the lower by up to 3 mm, both prominently 5–11-nerved, sometimes weakly scabrous along midrib; lemma obtuse or notched at apex, 9–13 mm long, c. 5-nerved, only the midrib prominent, glabrous except for finely ciliate margins; palea slightly shorter than lemma. Flowers Nov.–Mar.