Japan Flora: Tufted perennial, about 80-120 cm. high; culms glabrous, puberulent above, branching below; leaf-blades flat, slightly pilose, 40-60 cm. long, 9-15 mm. wide, acuminate; spikes cylindric, 15-25 cm. long, about 15 mm. wide, densely flow­ered, dull purpurascent, the involucre much-spreading, with 3 or 4 spikelets; pedicels about 1 mm. long, villous; brisdes unequal, 4-13 mm. long, the longest to 20 mm. long, the inner pinnate at base; spikelets about 5 mm. long; glumes mem­branous, lanceolate, acuminate, the first 1/4 as long as the spikelet, nerveless, obtuse; sterile lemma as long as the fertile. Aug.-Nov. Naturalized.

Honshu (near Tokyo); rare.  N. Africa, Asia Minor, and India.