Tough stoloniferous perennial, the stolons rooting to form dense tussocks; roots thick and tomentose; culms up to 1 m or more high, rigid, woody, branching, producing fascicles of shoots at the nodes. Leaf-blades up to 45 cm long, involute or opening out and up to 4 mm wide, stiff, mostly glaucous. Inflorescence linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1040 cm long, the branches loosely 3-7-spiculate. Spikelets 8-25-flowered, lanceolate to ovate or oblong, 12-26 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, straw-coloured or tinged with purple; glumes narrowly ovate, 6-9 mm long, coriaceous, acute; lemmas lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 7-9 mm long, asperulous or very minutely hairy; callus and rhachilla-tip bearded with white hairs 4-5 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. Per. March-September.

Type: India, Burman (missing from LINN).

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind); Egypt to Mozambique and Madagascar, through Arabia to India and Ceylon.

A grass of coastal sand-dunes.