Perennial; culms 30-80 cm high, erect from short rhizomes. Leaf-blades 5-12 cm long, 3-6 mm wide, glabrous; upper sheaths distinctly inflated; ligule 2-3 mm long, obtuse. Panicle 15-3.2 cm long, 8-12 mm wide, ovoid-cylindrical. Spikelets 3-5 mm long; glumes sharply acute to shortly aristate, slightly divergent at the tips, connate only at the extreme base, wingless, densely covered with white hairs up to 3 mm long; lemma shorter than the glumes, broadly acute, the margins connate for a third to half their length; awn exceeding the tip of the lemma by 5-8 mm; anthers 2-3 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: July-August

Type: Kashmir, Falconer (K).

Distribution: Pakistan (N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); Bulgaria eastwards through Iran and Afghanistan to Kashmir and southern Central Asia.

Common in the alpine zone between 3000 and 5200 m where it is grazed by sheep, cattle, yak and goats.