Plants perennial; cespitose, sometimes rhizomatous. Culms (20–)30–130(–150) cm. Sheaths with sparsely hairy apices, hairs to 3 mm; ligules 0.1–0.5 mm; blades not conspicuously distichous, 5–70 cm long, 1.5–10 mm wide, flat, folded, or invo¬lute, abaxial surface glabrous or pilose, adaxial surface glabrous or scabridulous, margins glabrous. Panicles terminal and axillary, 5–30 cm long, 0.4–1.6 cm wide, usually spikelike, partially included in the uppermost sheath, with 15–90 spikelets per cm² (exposed portion, when pressed); lower nodes with 1–2(–3) branches; primary branches 0.4–6 cm, appressed, spikelet-bearing to the base; secondary branches appressed; pulvini glabrous; pedicels 0.3–3.5 mm, appressed, glabrous or scabridulous. Spikelets 4–6(–10) mm, stramineous to purplish-tinged. Glumes subequal, lanceolate, membranous to chartaceous, midveins usually greenish; lower glumes (1.2–)2–4 mm; upper glumes (2–)2.5–5(–6) mm, slightly shorter or longer than the lemmas; lemmas (2.2–)3–6(–10) mm, lanceolate, membranous to chartaceous and hyaline, glabrous, smooth, occasionally 2- or 3-veined, acute to obtuse; paleas (2.2–)3–6(–10) mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous; anthers 0.2–3.2 mm, yellow to orangish. Fruits 1–2 mm, ellipsoid, laterally flattened, often striate, reddish-brown; pericarps gelatinous, slipping from the seeds when wet. 2n = 54, 88, 108.