General: Perennial, tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 25-70 cm tall.
Leaves: Sheaths open; blades in-rolled, 0.1-1 mm wide and usually wavy when dry; ligules on the lower leaves 1.5-7.5 mm long, tapering to sharp points, the upper ligules to 2 mm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence an open, spreading panicle, 9-20 cm long, the unequal branches and flower stalks spreading wide; spikelets single at the end of each flower stalk; glumes 5-9 mm long, rounded at the base and tapering above the middle to points, with short, stiff hairs throughout; lemmas 3-4 mm long, densely hairy, the hairs 2.5-6 mm long, awned, the stout awns 3-6 mm long, the first segments rough or short-hairy, deciduous at maturity; paleas almost as long as the lemmas; calluses 0.4-1 mm long, sharp.
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.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Dry sandy slopes and grasslands in the steppe and montane (rarely) zones; infrequent in SC and SE BC, rare in NW BC (Telegraph Creek); E to SW MB and S to AR, TX, NM, AZ, MX and CA.
