General: Perennial, densely tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems (25) 45-110 cm tall, with visible nodes.
Leaves: Sheaths not conspicuous at the base of the stems, remaining entire, not shredding into fibres; blades (5) 10-20 (40) cm long, 0.4-0.7 mm wide, tightly folded, hairlike; ligules 0.1-0.4 (0.5) mm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence a loose, often drooping, panicle, 5-20 cm long, the branches (1) 2-10 cm long; spikelets 2- to 5- (7-) flowered, 6-12 mm long; lower glumes 2-5 mm long, the upper ones 3-6 mm long; lemmas 4-7 (8) mm long; awned, the awns 3-12 mm long; anthers (1) 1.7-3 mm long; ovary tops hairy.
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.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Mesic to dry meadows, rocky slopes, clearings and open forests in the lowland and montane zones; frequent in BC south of 56 degrees N, infrequent northward to 57 degrees N; E to SW AB, disjunct to ON and S to MI, WI, WY, UT and CA.
