Desmostachya bipinnata

A perennial tall, rootstock stout, creeping, stolons very stout clothed with shining sheaths. Stem is Tufted, smooth, erect. Leaves are basal, fascicled, very long, rigid long acuminate tips filiform.

The inflorescence is Panicles, strict, erect, narrowly pyramidal or columnar, often interrupted, rachis puberulous, branches very much crowded, branchlet rigid, glabrous or hispidulous, spreading. Flowers are Spikelets unilateral, biseriate and crowded, pale brown, rather shining, internodes of rachilla very short, glume obtuse, floral glume coriaceous. Seeds are Grains, obliquely ovoid, laterally compressed, obscurely trigonous. Flowering occurs all year round. The culms are considered diuretic and used in dysentery and menorrhagia. The grass may be used for thatching and rope making. The grass has been tried as a raw material for paper manufacture.