Plant: Robust perennial bunchgrass to 1.2 m; blades flat or folded 8-25 cm long, >7-15 mm wide, usually scabrous on both surfaces; panicle densely flowered and spike-like; spikelets 2-2.5 mm long; 1st glume about 1/3 to 1/2 as long as the spikelet, 3 to 5 nerved; bristles usually solitary below each spikelet.