General:
Perennial grass from firm widely creeping rhizomes; stems stout, erect, simple, rigid, smooth, 50-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth; blades 4-8 mm wide when unrolled, elongate, soon in-rolled, minutely toothed and rough on the nerves above; ligules blunt, minutely fringed, 1-3 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, linear-cylindric panicle, 10-40 cm long, mostly 10-25 mm wide, whitish-brown or slightly purple-tinged, the base often enclosed in the upper sheath, the rachis short-hairy; spikelets compressed, 8-12 mm long; glumes short-hairy, about equal, 10-15 mm long, rounded to pointed, rough on the keels, somewhat rough to smooth on the sides; lemmas 9-13 mm long, short stiff-hairy on the sides and keels, pointed at the tips, the callus hairs 1-4 mm long, the paleas rounded; rachilla prolongation hairy, about 2 mm long, anthers linear, 6-8 mm long.

Notes:
This species was collected for the first time in BC by N. Page in 2001. It has likely been in the Tofino area for some time since it occurs in fairly large concentrations, on several beaches.

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:
Ammophila breviligulata Fernald