Fleurs : panicule spiciforme longue de 4-8 cm, cylindrique atténuée aux deux bouts, assez grêle, glabrescente, souvent violacée, à rameaux portant 1-2 épillets longs de 5 mm ; glumes soudées jusqu'au milieu, lancéolées-aiguës, étroitement ailées et brièvement pubescentes sur la carène ; glumelle unique, subobtuse, munie au-dessus de la base d'une arête flexueuse très saillante, rarement incluse.
Floraison France : Avril-juillet.
Flowers: Spikelets and glumes 4.5-7.0 mm long, in a slender, dense, spike-like panicle 20-120 mm long, 8-10 mm wide; glumes alike, joined one-third of their length, narrowly lanceolate, pointed, narrowly winged on the keels, minutely hairy on the nerves, 3-nerved; lemma equalling glumes, ovate, blunt, keeled, smooth, with 4 nerves and a long, straight awn arising from the base and twice as long as glume; anthers 3-4 mm long.
Flowering UK: Early May-early Sept