Tufted perennial; culms 1245 (-80) cm high, erect. Leaf-blades 2.5-15 (40) cm long, 24 mm wide, flat, scabrid above: Panicle cylindrical or ovoid, 1.5-5 cm long, cuneate at the base. Spikelets 4-5.5 mm long; glumes narrowly elliptic (those of the sterile spikelets narrower), long- or short-awned, ciliate on the keel and on the margins above; fertile lemma 3.5-4 mm long, obtuse and abruptly mucronate at the tip, ciliate on the margins and glabrous or minutely scabrid on the back.

Type: South Africa, Ecklon..

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab & N.W.F.P.); South Africa; Oman, Yemen and Afghanistan; introduced in Australia.