Perennial, 0.3-1(2) m tall; calms +/- stout, clumped, erect, glabrous but with bearded nodes. Sheaths keeled, longer than the internodes, usually papillose-hispid throughout; blades 10-50 cm long, 6-25 mm wide, sparsely to densely hispid on upper and lower surfaces, the margins scabrous, the ligules long-ciliate. Inflorescence 5-30 cm long, a panicle of racemes 4-12 cm long; rachis of racemes bearded at the base; spikelets paired, broadly elliptic, 1.3-1.5 mm long, crowded, plano-convex, softly pubescent; first glume lacking; second glume and sterile lemma barely covering fruit. Fruits smooth-, shiny, pale green. Croat 8489. Common in the Laboratory Clearing between the dining hall and the dock as well as in the area north of the dock; may occur in other clearings as well. Apparently flowering throughout the year, but less frequently in the early dry season.