Densely tufted perennial with short thick rhizomes; culms 30-85cm high, erect or ascending from a curved base, slender to moderately stout. Leaf-blades folded, prominently ribbed above, up to 25cm long, 1.5-2.5mm wide, mostly basal, smooth on the lower (outer) surface; ligule c.0.75mm long. Panicle broadly ovate, 7-16cm long, very lax, few-spiculate, the branches smooth or scaberulous, widely spreading, bare for most of their length and with only 1-3(-4) spikelets each. Spikelets 4-6(-8)-flowered, 10-13mm long; glumes almost entirely hyaline, thicker only along the nerves, the lower 3-4(-4.5)mm long, 1-nerved, the upper 4-5(-5.5)mm long, 3-nerved; lemmas narrowly oblong in side-view, (5-)6.5-8mm long, glabrous and smooth, narrowly hyaline along the margins, with a short awn-point 0.3-1.5mm long; palea scabrid along the keels; anthers 2.5-4mm long; ovary thinly hairy at the tip.

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

Type: USSR, Kirghizia, Brotherus 784 (G,LE).

Distribution: Pakistan (N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); Central Asia.

3700-5300m.