Rhizomatous perennial; culms 30-115 cm high, ascending from a decumbent base, only rarely rooting from the lower nodes. Leaf-blades 7-26 cm long, 2-7 mm wide, scabrid; ligule c. 1 mm long, obtuse. Panicle 1040 cm long, nodding, loose, the spikelets not or only slightly clustered on the rather long flexuous primary branches. Spikelets 2-3.3 mm long; glumes subequal, 13-2.2 mm long, elliptic, acute or obtuse, the lower usually a little shorter than the upper and sometimes nerveless, rarely the upper also nerveless; lemma as long as the spikelet, hairy in the lower part, minutely notched at the tip and bearing a fine awn 8-20 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: July-August.

Type: India, Hugel (?LE).

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab, N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir): Afghanistan; Himalayas.

Distinguished from Muhlenbergia duthieana by its loose panicle and very short glumes. It is a taller, more robust species than either Muhlenbergia duthieana or Muhlenbergia himalayensis and differs from the latter also by its broader leaves, shorter glumes and, in most cases, absence of stolons. 1600-3000 m.