General:
Annual grass from fibrous roots; stems (40) 50-100 cm tall, smooth, erect or abruptly bent near the base.

Leaves:
Sheaths soft-hairy; blades 2-3 (4) mm wide, flat, smooth to soft-hairy on the dorsal surfaces at least, thin, the nerves very narrow, scarcely 1/3 as broad as the intervening areas; ear-shaped lobes lacking at the leaf-bases; ligules jagged, 2-3 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an open panicle, (10) 15-20 cm long, the lower branches usually drooping, mostly bearing only 1 or 2 spikelets; spikelets closely (6-) 7- to 9-flowered, broadest above the midlength, smooth to appressed short-hairy, 2.5-3.5 cm long; glumes slender, the lower ones 1-nerved, 6-14 mm long, the upper ones 3-nerved, 10-20 mm long; lemmas narrowly lanceolate, long-pointed, keeled, (16) 18-20 mm long, bidentate, the teeth very slender, 2-2.5 mm long, awned, the awns 15-30 mm long; anthers 1-1.5 mm long.

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:
Anisantha sterilis (L.) Nevski