General: Perennial, strongly tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems hollow, minutely rough, mostly (15) 20-40 cm tall.
Leaves: Sheaths open; blades 1-2 mm wide, 7-25 cm long, in-rolled, minutely rough; ligules scarcely 0.5 mm long, membranous, the frontal margins with hairs 2-3 mm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence a narrow panicle, 5-10 cm long, the branches mostly loosely ascending; lower glumes 7-13 mm long, about 1/2 the length of the upper ones, awn-tipped; florets 10-15 mm long, the calluses flattened, about 1 mm long; lemma awns (4) 5-8 cm long, 3-branched, the lateral branches divergent; paleas 2-2.5 mm long, slightly surpassed by the lodicules.
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 grasslands, shrublands and forest openings in the steppe and lower montane zones; frequent in SC BC, less frequent eastward in S BC; E to SW MB and S to LA, TX, NM, AZ and CA.
