E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial, tufted grass from fibrous roots, not bulbous-based; stems erect, 60-130 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths closed to the tops, smooth to more or less stiff-hairy or generally hairy; blades often minutely rough, the nerves prominent and broadly spaced, 5-10 mm wide, flat, lax; ligules usually closed in front until split, coarsely jagged, blunt to rounded, 3-9 mm long, the collars smooth to short soft-hairy.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a panicle 12-30 cm long, the branches solitary, at flowering usually spreading to drooping or reflexed, bearing a few spikelets mostly above midlength; spikelets loosely (3-) 4- to 6-flowered, 10-17 mm long; glumes narrow, the lower ones 5-6 mm long, 3-nerved, but the lateral nerves very indistinct, the upper ones up to 7.5-9 mm long, distinctly 3-nerved, often abruptly sharp-pointed; lemmas finely minutely rough or short-hairy, strongly 7-nerved, bifid at the tips for about 1 mm, awned, the awns 3-10 mm long, borne between the teeth; anthers about 3 mm long.