Tufted perennial without rhizomes; culms 90-120 cm high, erect, rather stout. Leaf - blades flat, not ribbed above, up to 30 cm long, 7-10 mm wide, tapering to a rounded base; ligule 4-6 mm long, without auricles. Panicle lanceolate to broadly ovate, 14-20 cm long, lax, the branches ascending or widely spreading, smooth or scaberulous. Spikelets 3-4-flowered, 8-9mm long, the florets distant and widely diverging; lower glume 2.5-4 mm long, 1-nerved; upper glume 3.5-6 mm long, 3-nerved; lemmas narrowly oblong in side-view, 5.5-7mm long, scabrid on the dorsal surface, 3-nerved, awnless; palea minutely scabrid along the keels; anthers 3-4mm long; ovary hairy at the tip.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: July-August.

Type: Kashmir, Duthie 13469(K).

Distribution: Kashmir, endemic.

Similar to Festuca modesta but smaller in all its parts. A further feature, and one most unusual not only for the genus, but the tribe as well, is the 3-nerved lemma. 2200-3700m.