Plants perennial; cespitose. Culms (25)40-120(150) cm. Leaf sheaths not strongly overlapping; blades (3)1-30(44) cm long, (1.3)2-3.5(4.5) mm wide, rolled. Panicles contracted. Pedicels scabrous, with hairs to 7 mm. Spikelets 3.2-5.7 mm long, 2 mm wide, often densely covered with hairs, hairs to 4 mm, white or pink to purple. Glumes separated by 0.3(0.6) mm; lower glumes about 0.5 mm, awns 1-2(3) mm. 2n = 36.

In its native southern Africa, Melinis nerviglumis flowers from November to September [sic]. According to Anderson (1991), it is very similar to M. repens subsp. repens, differing from that species primarily in its strongly overlapping leaf sheaths and rolled leaf blades. The cultivar being marketed is 'Pink Crystal'.