Tufted, glabrous, annual or shortlived perennial, 20–40(–70) cm tall (including inflorescences); culms ascending to erect, often strongly geniculate; nodes mostly enclosed by leaf sheaths. Leaf blades erect to spreading, scaberulous, flat but becoming inrolled on drying, to 12 cm long but often less than 5 cm, 1.5–3 mm wide when flat; ligule membranous, acute, becoming lacerate, (5–)7–9 mm long. Inflorescence an open panicle 10–20 cm long from the lowest whorl, well exserted at maturity often only half as wide with stiff, erect to spreading branches above and strongly deflexed branches below at maturity; secondary branches only slightly divergent or appressed to primary branches; pedicels 1–5 mm long, scabrous. Spikelets (4.0–)4.5–5.5 mm long including glume setae, green or sometimes purplish-green; glumes acuminate, (3.0–)3.3–4.0 mm long, subequal or the lower longer by up to 0.3 mm, the central nerve of each glume extended to a fine seta 1.0–1.7 mm long, keels strongly scabrous, lateral surfaces finely scaberulous, margins ciliate; lemma acute, 2.2–2.7(–3.0) mm long with the nerves extended into short setae 0.3–0.7 mm long, glabrous except for a few occasional hairs towards the margins, callus with hairs 0.5–0.6 mm long; awn inserted near the mid-back of the lemma, geniculate, 4.5–6.5 mm long with the bristle about 2.5–3.5 times longer than the column; palea 1.9–2.2 mm long, minutely bifid; rachilla extension plumose, 1.5–2.0 mm long including hairs; anthers 0.5–0.7(–0.8) mm long. Flowers/fruits mostly Dec.–Mar.
VVP, DunT. Endemic in Victoria where restricted to saline to brackish swamps and lake margins in the south-west of the state in an area roughly bounded by Hamilton, Camperdown and Ballarat.
