Glumes are green with or without purple, and occur in a panicle of from 10 to 30 spikelets, each of which contains from four to nine individual flowers.

[2][3] It was first collected from Shark Bay in Western Australia by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré, botanist to the expedition of Louis de Freycinet.

[5][6] It occurs throughout the wetter, cooler parts of southern Australia, through to hot, arid land such as Shark Bay.

Its many forms span diverse habitats, variously tolerating a range of salinity and soils, including sands, loams, limestone, granite and laterite.

[2][3] It is considered one of the main native pasture grasses in southern Australia[7] Flowering occurs in spring or summer, usually in response to rain.