Isachne distichophylla is a perennial grass characterized by its stiffly erect culms, growing 60-100 cm tall. The culms are somewhat stout, often slightly decumbent at the base, rooting at lower nodes, and generally exhibit a purple hue at the nodes. They are typically glabrous and highly branched, especially near the base. The leaves are alternate and arranged in a distichous pattern. The blades are spreading, stiff, and lanceolate with flat surfaces, measuring 5-15 cm in length and 5-17 mm in width, with lower ones sometimes being vestigial. The leaf apex is acute, and the base is abruptly rounded. Leaf surfaces are conspicuously striate and retrorsely scabrous, while the margins are distinctly thickened and cartilaginous, often irregularly crenate. The green or often purple sheaths are striate and measure 3-5 cm long, with densely ciliate margins featuring appressed, stout hairs up to 2 mm long. The ligule is also densely ciliate, measuring 1.5-2 mm long. The inflorescences are paniculate, often purple, ovoid to ellipsoid, measuring 10-20 cm long and 4-10 cm wide. The inflorescence branches are stiff, terete, usually spreading, and glabrous. The spikelets (pictured) are 1.5-1.8 mm long ovoid, with membranous, equal glumes that are broadly ovate or suborbicular and sometimes sparsely hispid at the apex. The first floret of each spikelet is perfect, while the second floret is pistillate. Lemmas are indurate, thick, coriaceous, and vary from very sparsely to conspicuously pubescent at the base and along the margins. The fruit is a caryopsis, reddish-brown, ovoid, and about 1 mm long, with a smooth texture. It is commonly found on wet ridgetops and openings in wet forests between 215-1,480 meters.