General:
Perennial, more or less densely tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems mostly smooth, 5-30 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths not conspicuous at the base of the stems, splitting between the nerves or remaining entire, usually not shredding into fibres; blades (2) 10-20 cm long, 0.35-0.65 mm wide, folded, angular and more or less irregular-hexagonal in cross-section with weakly developed sclerenchyma strands; ligules 0.1-0.3 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a narrow, spikelike panicle, 1.5-4 (5.5) cm long, the branches 0.2-1.2 cm long; spikelets 2- to 4- (6-) flowered, 4-8.5 mm long; lower glumes 1.2-3.3 mm long, the upper ones (2.4) 2.9-4.6 mm long; lemmas 3-5.2 mm long, awned, the awns 0.8-3.5 mm, usually less than 2.5 mm long, the lowermost lemmas 3-4.2 mm long; anthers (0.5) 0.7-1.1 (1.3) mm long; ovary tops smooth.

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:
Festuca brachyphylla var. groenlandica Schol.