General:
Perennial, strongly tufted grass from fibrous roots, stems numerous, 20-120 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths open, smooth to rough; blades matted at the base, rather stiff, sometimes flat but most folded or in-rolled, smooth to rough below, rough above, with a few, prominent, raised nerves, 1.5-3 (4) mm wide; ligules entire but often split, hairy, sharp-pointed or rounded, 4-8 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a loose and open to narrow panicle, 8-30 cm long, the branches spreading or drooping to erect (even at maturity); spikelets usually glistening, purplish to tawny, 2-flowered, rarely 3-flowered, glumes rather narrow, the lower ones 1-nerved, 2.5-5 (6) mm long, the upper ones 3-nerved, often somewhat jagged, 3-6 (7) mm long; lemmas 5-nerved, 2.5-4 mm long, the tips jagged and 4-toothed, awned from the base, the awns 3-5 mm long, straight or bent, the callus hairs about 1 mm long; lodicules egg-shaped to lanceolate, 0.7-1 mm long, anthers 1.2-2.2 mm long.

Notes:
This is a widespread, difficult complex and until an adequate monographic study is undertaken we are recognizing only two subspecies for BC:

1. Glumes mostly 5-7 mm long; lemmas averaging 4 mm long; panicles open during flowering .... ssp. beringensis (Hult.) Lawrence

1. Glumes mostly less than 5 mm long; lemmas averaging 3.5 mm, if longer then the panicles closed at flowering .... ssp. cespitosa

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:
Deschampsia holciformis J. Presl