Plant solitary or loosely tufted; shoots extravaginal. Culms 50–110 cm tall, nodes 2–3. Leaf sheaths glabrescent; auricles absent; leaf blades flat or involute, (10–)25–40 cm × 1–4(–6) mm, margins scaberulous or scabrid; adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands present, abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow discrete strands; ligule 1.1–2.5(–5) mm, margin ciliolate. Panicle loose, open but narrow, 15–20(–25) cm; branches 5–10(–14) cm, 2 at lowest node, lower 1/3–1/2 naked. Spikelets 11–15 mm; florets (2–)3–5; glumes smooth or veins spinescent, margins membranous; lower glume narrowly lanceolate, (3.5–)4–5 mm; upper glume lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 5.5–7 mm; rachilla internodes (1–)1.5–2 mm; lemmas (7–)8–9(–11) mm, scabrid, apex mucronate to awned; awns 0.1–2 mm; palea keels smooth. Anthers 3–4 mm. Ovary apex glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep.

The subgeneric placement of this species is uncertain. It differs from species of Festuca subg. Drymanthele by its glabrous ovary and may be nearer to species of F. subg. Subulatae.

* Forests, grasslands; 3800–4000 m. Sichuan, Yunnan.