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

General:
Perennial, tufted grass from short rhizomes, clump-forming; stems grooved above the nodes, (50) 80-100 (150) cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths strongly keeled, usually smooth; blades flat or folded, smooth to sparsely hairy on the lower surfaces, at least near the ligules, 2-5 (6) mm wide; ligules fringed with fine hairs, short-hairy, 1-1.5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a panicle, the branches each ending in solitary, usually arching racemes, 3-5 cm long, the rachis more or less densely soft-hairy; spikelets on 4-5 mm long stalks, sterile, with awns 1-4 mm long, the unstalked spikelets fertile, 2-flowered, 7-9 mm long, with awns usually 10-13 mm long; paleas much reduced, more or less jagged and fringed with hairs; lodicules about 0.7 mm long; anthers about 4 mm long.