Perennial, rhizomatous. Culms tough, erect or decumbent, 30–125 cm tall. Leaves cauline; leaf sheaths glabrous, striate, puberulous to ciliate on margins, especially toward throat; leaf blades linear, flat or convolute, often stiff and pungent, markedly distichous, ascending close to the culm, 7–25 × 0.2–0.8 cm, apex acute or acuminate; ligule 0.5–1.5 mm, a ciliolate membrane. Panicle terminal, narrowly oblong in outline, 5–20 cm, sparsely to moderately branched; branches glabrous, scabrid, ascending. Spikelets ovate, 2.5–3 mm, acute; lower glume broadly ovate, 1/3 length of spikelet, hyaline, 1(–3)-veined, clasping at the base of the spikelet, obtuse or acute; upper glume ovate, as long as spikelet, membranous, 7–9-veined, acute; lower floret staminate, lemma similar to upper glume, palea well developed; upper floret almost as long as spikelet, pale yellow, shiny. Fl. and fr. Jun–Nov. 2n = 40.

Moist places, marine habitats, streams. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [tropical and subtropical locations worldwide].