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

General:
Perennial tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 30-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth to slightly hairy; blades 0.8-3 mm wide; lower ligules 0.1-0.5 mm long, higher on the sides than on the back.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a panicle, 8-30 cm long, the branches zig-zag, broadly spreading, the mature spikelets drooping at the ends of the branches; glumes green, unequal, the lower ones 9-15 mm long, the upper 2-3 mm shorter than the lower; lemmas 4.5-5.5 mm long, smooth above, sparsely hairy below, the hairs 0.2-0.5 mm long, awned, the awns 15-25 mm long, twice bent, the first segments rough or short-hairy, the terminal segments zig-zag, persistent; paleas 1/2-3/5 as long as the lemmas, the calluses 0.4-0.7 mm long, blunt.