General:
Annual, tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems erect to decumbent, sometimes bent, 10-130 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth, sometimes with craterlike glands, pimply and hairy near the summit collars, the hairs up to 5 mm long; blades 5-25 cm long, (2) 3-7 (9) mm wide, flat, rough above, occasionally hairy near base, glabrous below; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm long, fringed.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an egg-shaped panicle (5) 10-40 cm long, (2) 4-18 cm wide, open to somewhat congested when immature, rachis angled and channeled; branches 3-12 (15) cm long, spreading 0-80degreefrom culm axis, solitary to whorled; secondary branches somewhat appressed; pedicels 1-6 (7) mm long, somewhat appressed, stiff; spikelets (4) 5-10 (11) mm long, 0.7-2.4 mm wide, 5- to 11- (15-) flowered, egg-shaped to linear, greyish-green to purplish; disarticulation of glumes first, then lemmas, paleas persistent; glumes 0.7-2 (2.3) mm long, subequal, egg-shaped to lanceolate, membranous; lemmas 1.2-2.4 mm long, egg-shaped, membranous, smooth or with a few hairs, greyish-green, tips sharp-pointed, lateral veins evident, often greenish; palea 1-2.2 mm long, papery, tips rounded to blunt; stamens 3; anthers 0.2-0.5 mm long, purplish; caryopses 0.5-0.8 (1) mm long, egg-shaped to rectangular-prismatic, one or both ends blunt, laterally compressed, shallow to deeply grooved on the upper surface (opposite the embryo), reddish-brown.

Notes:
Recently, the species has been separated into two distinct subspecies.

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 orcuttiana Vasey
Eragrostis virescens J. Presl