Andropogon binatus Retzius, Observ. Bot. 5: 21. 1789; A. involutus Steudel; A. notopogon Steudel; Eulaliopsis angusti-folia (Trinius) Honda; Pollinia eriopoda Hance; Pollinidium binatum (Retzius) C. E. Hubbard; Spodiopogon angustifolius Trinius; S. binatus (Retzius) Roberty.

Perennial; basal sheaths woolly with creamy hairs. Culms densely tufted, erect, 30–80 cm tall, nodes glabrous. Leaf sheaths glabrous, hairy at mouth; leaf blades tough, involute or rarely flat, 10–30 × 0.1–0.4 cm, uppermost very reduced, glabrous, adaxial surface and margins scabrid; ligule ca. 0.2 mm with hairs to 2 mm. Racemes 2–4, 2–5 cm, softly golden-villous; rachis internodes 2–2.5 mm, golden-villous on one or both margins, sometimes thinly. Spikelets 3.8–6 mm, yellowish; callus hairs up to 3/4 spikelet length; lower glume villous along lower margins and in tufts on back; upper glume slightly longer than lower, similarly villous, apex with a 0.3–2 mm awnlet; lower lemma narrowly oblong, equal to lower glume; upper lemma subequal to lower lemma; awn 4–9 mm. Anthers ca. 2.5 mm.

This species is a source of fiber.

Dry mountain slopes; Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand].