Perennial. Culms woody, scrambling 1–3 m long. Leaves cauline; leaf sheaths striate, glabrous, the margins ciliate toward the throat; leaf blades linear, flat, 10–28 × 0.5–1.5 cm, glabrous, scabrid or smooth, base truncate or rounded, apex acuminate; ligule ca. 0.2 mm, membranous. Panicle broadly ovate to oblong in outline, 15–40 cm, much branched; branches slender, scabrid, spreading at maturity. Spikelets elliptic-oblong, 1.2–1.5 mm, glabrous; lower glume ovate, 1/2 length of spikelet, 3-veined; upper glume as long as spikelet, 5-veined; lower lemma similar to upper glume, palea absent; upper floret coriaceous, pale yellow, smooth, shiny. Fl. and fr. Jul–Dec.

Grasslands. S Yunnan [Borneo, NE India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].