An upright and long-lived grass usually growing only 15-70 cm tall. Its narrow leaf blades are flat or folded with rough margins. Its seed-heads are conspicuously feathery and spike-like in appearance (2-12 cm long and 1-2 cm wide). These seed-heads turn from pale green or whitish-green to straw-coloured or whitish as they mature. Their numerous flower spikelets are surrounded by a ring of long whitish coloured bristles (3-7 cm long). Its mature seeds are shed enclosed within the ring of bristles.