Tufted perennial; culms 6-23 cm high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades flat or folded, 1-5 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, green, scaberulous above. Panicle contracted, 1.3-3.5 cm long, the branches smooth, very short, bare in the lower part and bearing only 1 or 2 spikelets each. Spikelets 4.5-5 mm long, 2-3-flowered, variegated with purple; glumes oblong-elliptic, acute or subacute, the lower 1.2-1.8 mm long, 1-nerved, the upper 2-2.5 mm long, 3-nerved; lemmas 3.2-3.5 mm long, oblong-elliptic, acute, the tip compressed and apiculate, glabrous, the mid-nerve reaching the tip; palea keels smooth; anthers 0.6-1 mm long.

Type: Kashmir, Duthie 12543 (K).

Distribution: Kashmir; Afghanistan and Lahul.

Only a few collections are known, made between 3400 and 5300 m.