Perennial, compactly tufted. Culms 30–80 cm tall, smooth or spinulose, 2–3-noded, nodes dark, exposed. Basal leaves 1/2 length of culms, leaf sheaths smooth or spinulose, shorter than internodes; leaf blades setaceous, convolute, outer surface smooth or scabrid to shortly spinulose; ligule 2–10 mm, of basal leaves rounded, of culm leaves lanceolate. Panicle narrow, 10–20 cm, base enclosed by expanded uppermost leaf sheath. Spikelets yellowish green; glumes narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–2.5 cm, apex filiform; callus pungent, 2.2–3 mm; lemma 9–11 mm, shortly hairy in longitudinal lines, an obscure ring of hairs at awn articulation; awn deciduous, 10–15(–20) cm, scabrid, 2-geniculate, column 1.5–2.5 cm to first bend, 1–1.5 cm to second bend, bristle 9–15 cm, curling. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug.

This species differs from others in the Stipa capillata group by its basal leaves, which are much shorter than the culms, exposed culm nodes, and rather small spikelets.

Steppes, mountain slopes, floodlands, river banks; 400–4500 m. Gansu, Hebei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan].