Perennial, loosely tufted. Culms erect, herbaceous, 60–130 cm tall, 1–2 mm in diam., nodes densely bearded with appressed silky hairs. Leaf sheaths longer than internodes, sparingly puberulous to softly pilose, margins ciliolate; leaf blades linear, flat, 20–35 cm × 3–7 mm, thinly pubescent on both surfaces or abaxial surface glabrescent, apex acute; ligule ca. 0.5 mm. Panicle very loose, open, 30–35 cm; branches slender, 9–20 cm, patent or ascending, solitary or paired, spikelet pairs mostly distant; pedicels scabrid, without apical bristles. Spikelets 4.5–5.5 mm, widely gaping, pale with dark green veins; glumes glabrous, scabrid on veins; lower glume 3.5–4 mm, 3–5-veined, apex caudate; upper glume 7-veined, apex narrowly acuminate; lower floret staminate or barren, ca. 4 mm; upper floret 2.5–3 mm, lemma apex awned, awn flanked by 2 slender erect bristles; bristles 1–2 mm; awn almost straight, slightly twisted in lower part, pale throughout, 5–6 mm; callus hairs 1/3 length of lemma. Fl. and fr. Sep–Nov.

This grass has a softer habit than Arundinella setosa, with which it has been confused. It also differs in its bearded nodes, which are not exposed as in A. setosa, but are hidden within the overlapping leaf sheaths. The non-geniculate awn is another clear difference between the two species.

* Grassy slopes, roadsides, among rocks, light shade; 600–1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang.