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1 m high; Graminoid; Notes: Tall, erectly tufted perennial grass, 1 m or higher when in flower. Culms erect, terete, reed-like, smooth, glabrous, straw-coloured to purplish tinted nodes dark brown-banded with conspicuous whorl of erect, long, white, straight hairs, unbranched. Leaf blades linear, up to 65 cm long, tightly rolled, tapering to an extremely fine, whip-like apex, grey-green, glabrous base conspicuously auriculate with collar developed into 2 narrow, elongate projections. Ligule an inconspicuous brown membranous ridge, glabrous. Leaf sheath tightly circumculmate over entire length, up to 30 cm long, grey-green to purplish tinted, shallowly canaliculate, glabrous, persistent and woody at base around rhizome. Inflorescence a panicle, flabelliform in outline, 250 x 80 mm, borne on sturdy, often contorted, spathed peduncle. Racemes 20 cm x 7 - 8 mm, arranged closely and digitately not rigid, most often reflexed, axis clearly articulated, marked by banding and hair whorls. Spikelets paired, narrowly ovate, 7 - 8x 1 - 2 mm, each subtended by a dense whorl of long white hairs. Glumes membranous pale to dark green to purple-tinted, densely pubescent, 7-veined black-pitted. Lower flower with aristate apex; upper flower conspicuously awned. Awn extremely long, up to 7.5 cm long, rigid, whip-like, contorted, densely pubescent, basally yellow-brown. Anthers large, up to 3 mm long, apically exerted. Stigma branches laterally exerted. |