Tufted many-noded stoloniferous open grass with scabrid wide green leaf-blades often shorter than smooth culms; branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath 6-10 mm, striate, margin chartaceous, glabrous or retrorsely short hairy. Ligule 0.2-0.5 mm, erose. Collar curved, thickened, infrequently bearing long hairs. Auricles 0.5-1.5 mm, clasping, glabrous or bearing long hairs. Leaf-blade 10-20 cm × 2-4 mm, flat usually bright green but sometimes glaucous, abaxially shortly antrorsely scabrid or occasionally glabrous, adaxially with antrorse short hairs or prickle-teeth on ribs or sometimes with longer hairs; margin shortly prickle-toothed. Culm 30-60 cm, often stout, internodes scabrid below inflorescence, otherwise smooth, nodes ± geniculate below; culm leaves often very broad. Inflorescence 10-25 cm, of 6-15 spikelets occasionally paired at base, rachis convex surface often sparsely prickle-toothed. Spikelets 14-25 mm, of 7-12 florets. Glumes ± equal, 5-9 mm, 3-5-nerved, eccentrically keeled, often broad, margins chartaceous, ciliate; keel and nerves prickle-toothed above elsewhere smooth, sometimes produced into short awn. Lemma usually with small scattered prickle-teeth above, glabrous below except on margin, apex often bifid when mucronate, awn absent or ≈ lemma, variable in one spikelet. Palea 9-12 mm, apex truncate or retuse, ciliate. Rachilla 1-2.5 mm, hairy. Callus 0.75-1 mm, incompletely shortly bearded. Lodicules 0.8-1.25 mm, simple, linear. Anthers 3-5 mm, purple or yellow. Gynoecium: ovary 1.5-2 mm; stigma-styles 1.75 mm. Caryopsis 7-10 mm; embryo 1 mm. 2n= 42.