Barbed wire grass

Caespitose perennial to 1 m high.

Leaves with ligule c. 2 mm long, jagged; blade 1.25–2 mm wide.

Panicle linear, c. 5–8-noded; primary branches 5–25 mm long; spathes narrow, 20–25 mm long, often reddish. Racemes not densely hairy, soon conspicuously divergent and reflexed, c. 10–20 mm long, c. 2–6-jointed. Sessile spikelets c. 4.5–6 mm long; callus shortly bearded. Lower glume 4- or 5-nerved; upper glume c. 7-nerved, subequal or very slightly shorter than the lower glume. Lower lemma c. 4.5 mm long, 1-nerved; upper lemma c. 3.5 mm long, 1-nerved, sometimes with a fine bristle 1–12 mm long. Pedicellate spikelet c. 5 mm long, narrower than the sessile spikelet. Lower glume c. 11-nerved; upper glume c. 60% as long, with finely ciliolate margins. Lemmas absent.