General:
Annual, freely branching grass from fibrous roots, also rooting at the nodes, forming patches often over 1 m wide; stems hollow, often prostrate to ascending, 20-60 cm long/tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths and collars strongly stiff-hairy, the hairs minutely blistery at the bases, often 2-3 (5) mm long; blades 4-6 (10) mm wide, flat, at least stiff-hairy towards the base, usually rough on the lower surface, the free margins narrowed gradually and ultimately turning upward on the ligules as slight ridges; ligules 1.5-2 mm long, membranous, blunt, the margins irregularly jagged.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of several, fingerlike, linear racemes in 1 or 2 whorls, 5-12 cm long, the spikelets mostly paired and in 2 rows on 1 side of flattened and 3-angled rachises; spikelets 2-flowered, but the lower flowers sterile, 1 spikelet short-stalked, the other nearly unstalked; glumes fringed with short hairs, the lower glumes about 0.5 mm long, the upper glumes about 2 mm long; sterile lemmas equalling the fertile lemmas, about 3 mm long, appressed-hairy, the lateral nerves prominent; lemmas pale greenish-brown.

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:
Panicum sanguinale L.
Syntherisma sanguinalis (L.) Dulac