General:
Perennial tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 15-90 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths open, smooth to hairy with short hairs; lower blades 0.5-1.5 mm wide, upper blades to 2.5 mm wide; lower ligules 0.5-1.2 mm long, blunt to pointed, the upper ligules to 2.5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a narrow panicle, 7-21 cm long, the branches straight, appressed to ascending, the spikelets appressed to the branches; florets somewhat flattened laterally rather than rounded; glumes 7-11.5 mm long, smooth; lemmas 3-4.5 mm long, leathery, smooth above, short-hairy below, the hairs 0.5 mm long, the tips with thick, 0.1 mm long lobes at the ends, awned, the awns 16-30 mm long, the first segments rough or short-hairy, persistent; paleas 3/4 as long as the lemmas or nearly equal to them, the calluses 0.4-1.2 mm long, blunt.

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:
Achnatherum lemmonii (Vasey) Barkworth