General:
Perennial tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 30-120 cm tall, the nodes and internodes smooth to densely hairy.

Leaves:
Lower sheaths smooth to hairy, often fringed at the throats, brown to grey when old; blades to 3 mm wide, usually straight and upright; lower ligules 0.2-1.5 mm long, often fringed along the margins; upper ligules 0.3-1 (1.5) mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a narrow panicle 8-30 cm long; glumes almost equal, 9-15 mm long, green, smooth; lemmas 6-7.5 mm long, hairy, the hairs 0.2-0.5 mm long, hairs at the tips similar in length to those at the base of the awns, the awns 15-40 mm long, twice bent, the first 2 segments with short hairs to long, soft, straight hairs, some of the hairs 0.5-1 mm long; paleas 2/5-3/5 as long as the lemmas, the calluses 0.8-1.2 mm long, sharp.

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:
Stipa elmeri Piper & Brodie ex Scribn.
Stipa occidentalis var. pubescens (Vasey) Maze, Roy L. Taylor & MacBryde