General:
Perennial, densely tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 10-40 cm tall.

Leaves:
Mostly basal, not glaucous; sheath margins open about 3/4 their length, basal sheaths persistent, densely overlapping; sterile shoots emerging strictly inside sheaths with distinct two-keeled buds protecting the scales; blades 2-4.5 mm wide, flat, thick, short, basal ones widely spreading, persisting through the season, upper stem ones much reduced in length; ligules rounded at tips, those of the sterile shoot leaves 1-2 (3) mm long, those of upper stem leaves up to 4 (5) mm long, backs smooth, hairless.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an erect panicle, 2-6 (8) cm long, egg-shaped to pyramidal, congested, contracted at maturity, terminal internodes 0.6-1 (1.5) cm long, the branches 1 to 2 per node, ascending to spreading, round, smooth or very slightly rough (rarely distinctly rough all around), the stalks widely spreading from the tips; spikelets laterally compressed, broadly lanceolate to egg-shaped, 3.9-6.2 mm long, 3- to 7-flowered; glumes broadly lanceolate, the lower 3-nerved; rachilla internodes less than 1 mm long, smooth, hairless; lemmas broadly lanceolate, 3-5 mm long, the tips sharp-pointed, keels and marginal nerves silky-hairy, sparsely to moderately short silky-hairy between the nerves; calluses hairless; paleas mostly minutely soft- to silky-hairy, the keels rough near the tips; flowers bisexual; anthers 1.3-2.3 mm long.

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