Loosely tufted perennial; culms 30-90(-120) cm high. Leaf-blades flat, up to 25 cm long, 3-4(-6) mm wide, minutely hairy on the upper surface, glabrous beneath. Panicle lax, 10-30 cm long, the branches spreading or ascending, the longest a third to half the length of the panicle. Spikelets lanceolate, 4-7 mm long; lemma lanceolate, 3-4(-5) mm long, acute at the tip, hairy except for the tip and sometimes the lower part of the back; awn 6-10 mm long, long-exserted from the glumes, ± terminal, deciduous; anthers 2-2.3 mm long, their tips bearded.

Fl & Fr. Per.: June-September.

Type: Northwest India, Thomson (E).

Distribution: Pakistan (N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); eastern Afghanistan along the Himalayas to China.

Very similar to Piptatherum aequiglume, but with smaller spikelets and lemmas. The awn of Piptatherum aequiglume is continuous with the tip of the lemma or only faintly articulated and on occasion does not readily become detached. In Piptatherum munroi, on the other hand, the awn is often minutely subterminal (but this is scarcely visible except under high magnification) and with an obvious contriction at its very base across which it easily fractures.

Common in forests and open vegetation from 600 to 3000 m.