Japan Flora: Tufted stout perennial, with thick, short rhizomes; culms 1-2 m. long; leaves radical and cauline, the blades flat, 1-2 cm. wide, much-elongate, pale green beneath, coarsely scabrous on mar­gins, midrib thickened toward base; panicles corymbose, 20-30 cm. long, the axis short, less than half as long as the racemes; racemes rather numerous and dense, 15-30 cm. long; spikelets geminate, ascending or obliquely spreading, lanceolate, 5-7 mm. long, acuminate, yellowish, awned, with a tuft of white or purplish hairs 7-12 mm. long, pedicellate; glumes rather coriaceous, acuminate, with hyaline apex and margins; awn of fertile lemma 8-15 mm. long. Aug.-Oct. Slopes in low­ lands and mountains; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common and variable. s. Kuriles, Korea, China, Ryukyus, and Formosa.

cv. Gracillimus. A narrow-leaved cultivated phase.

cv. Zebrinus. Cultivated phase with narrow, very scabrous, intermittent transverse whitish bands across the leaf blades.

var. condensatus (Hack.) Makino. Stouter; leaf-blades 1.5-4 cm. wide, glaucous beneath, less scabrous, panicles much denser. Near  seashores, sometimes in moun­tains; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; rather common. Korea, China, Indochina, and the Pacific Islands.