General:
Annual, tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems erect to decumbent, much branched, smooth, 10-45 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths sometimes glandular on midrib, fringed with fine hairs at summit, the hairs up to 4 mm long, the throats sparingly soft-hairy, loose, shorter than the internodes; blades 1.5-10 cm long, 1-3 (4) mm wide, flat, smooth with an occasional white hair, the margins sometimes with craterlike glands; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm long, fringed with fine hairs.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open to condensed, egg-shaped panicle, 4-20 cm long, 2.2-8 (10) cm wide, the branches 0.5-6 cm long, spreading 20-100degree from the stem axis, sometimes with glandular areas of spots or craterlike glands on the rachis; spikelets 4-7 (11) mm long, (1.1) 1.5-2.2 mm wide, 7- to 12- (20-) flowered, flattened, narrowly egg-shaped, stalked, the stalks with craterlike glands, reddish-purple to greenish, occasionally greyish; glumes 0.9-1.6 mm long, subequal, broadly egg-shaped, membranous, pointed, keeled, the keels with craterlike glands, the lower glumes 0.9-1.4 mm long, the upper glumes 1.2-1.6 mm long; lemmas 1.3-2 (2.2) mm long, broadly egg-shaped, membranous, the tips sharp-pointed to rounded, with prominent lateral nerves, keeled, the keels occasionally with 1 or 2 craterlike glands; paleas 1.3-1.7 mm long, translucent, the tips rounded to sharp-pointed; stamens 2, anthers 0.2-0.3 mm long, reddish-brown; caryopses 0.5-1.1 mm long, pear-shaped, both ends rounded, smooth or faintly lined, brownish.
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:
Eragrostis eragrostis (L.) P. Beauv.
Eragrostis poaeoides P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult.
Eragrostis suaveolens Becker ex Claus