General:
Annual, tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems erect to decumbent, 15-45 (65) cm tall/long.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth, occasionally with craterlike glands below the nodes, fringed with fine hairs at the summit, the hairs up to 5 mm long, the throats with hairs up to 2 mm long; blades (1) 5-20 cm long, (1) 3-5 (10) mm wide, flat to in-rolled, mostly smooth below, with craterlike glands along the margins, more or less rough above, occasionally hairy; ligules 0.4-0.8 mm long, fringed with fine hairs.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a congested to open, cylindrical to egg-shaped panicle, (3) 5-16 (20) cm long, 2-8.5 cm wide, tapered from the base upward, the branches 0.4-5 cm long, appressed to spreading 20-80degree from the stem axis; spikelets flattened, 6-20 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, 10- to 40-flowered, egg-shaped or lanceolate, greyish-green or translucent, the stalks with craterlike glands; glumes keeled, the keels with craterlike glands, nearly equal, 1.2-2.6 mm long, broadly egg-shaped to lanceolate, membranous, 1- or 3-nerved, the lower glumes 1.2-2 mm long, usually 1-nerved, the upper glumes 1.2-2.6 mm long, often 3-nerved; lemmas (1.8) 2-2.8 mm long, broadly egg-shaped, membranous, prominently nerved, the tips rounded to sharp-pointed, keeled, the keels with 2 to 5 craterlike glands; paleas 1.2-2.1 mm long, translucent, the tips rounded to sharp-pointed; stamens 3, anthers 0.2-0.5 mm long, yellow; caryopses 0.5-0.7 mm long, globe-shaped to elliptical, reddish-brown.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Eragrostis major Host
Eragrostis megastachya
Poa cilianensis All.