Slender, loosely tufted perennial without rhizomes; culms 25-60 cm high, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaf-blades flat or the margins inrolled, 6-15 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, shortly hairy above, glabrous beneath. Spike slender, 6-12cm long, erect, rhachis joints scabrid along the margins. Spikelets 3-5-flowered, 10-15 mm long; glumes unequal, elliptic, glabrous, acute, the lower 5-7 mm long, the upper 6-8 mm long; lemma oblong-lanceolate, 8-10 mm long, smooth and glabrous, acute or emarginate; palea almost as long as the lemma; anthers 3-5 mm long.

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

Type: Kashmir, Duthie 11895 (W).

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

According to Bor (1970) this is nonspecific with Agropyron ferganense Drobov, but Tzvelev (Poaceae URSS 134. 1976) is not certain of this. For the time being it is treated separately.

2700-4300 m.