Tufted perennial, culms erect, to 0.9 m high, nodes densely sericeous. Leaves glabrous to finely pubescent; blade mostly tightly inrolled to 30 cm long, 1.5–4 mm wide when unrolled; ligule minutely hairy abaxially, 0.5–1.5 mm long, auricles of sheath erect, to 2 mm long. Inflorescence a slender, usually dense panicle to 30 cm long. Glumes 14–23 mm long, usually purplish, narrow, acuminate, thinly membranous throughout, the lower longer by 2–5 mm than upper; lemma evenly tapered to base, slightly to distinctly constricted near the apex, 6–9 mm long, maturing to a deep golden brown, antrorsely scabrous near the apex, otherwise smooth, densely covered with appressed, shining, golden hairs, with a conspicuous patch below the apex which is either glabrous or sparsely covered by much shorter hairs, coma erect with hairs not or hardly longer than those of the body of the lemma; callus 2–4 mm long; awn twice bent, 5–10 cm long, 7–16 mm to the first bend, column shortly pubescent to almost glabrous; palea about equal to lemma, densely silky-hairy along the centre line. Flowers Sep.–Nov.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, MSB, RobP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, HSF. WA, SA, NSW. Scattered but widespread on deep sandy soils chiefly in the north-west and in the Wimmera (but with an outlying occurrences near Hamilton, Wangaratta), usually associated with mallee-scrub and heathland vegetation.
