A well marked species the old states of which accord with the description; in the young plant the sheaths are pilos at the throat, sometimes with a pilose zone at the junction of the lamina; the long branches of the pericels thickened & when dried united at the junction with the axis compressed with the edges convoluted upwards, the lowest sometimes 8 inches long erect spreading or even reflexed. Glumes purple in the young plant yellowish with age 5-6 lines long mutually unequal acum pointed.