General:
Perennial herb from rhizomes; stems erect, simple, hollow, solitary or a few in a tuft, smooth or slightly rough, about 60-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths shorter than the internodes, those at the base overlapping; blades 3-8 mm wide, rough; ligules cut off at the ends, 5-6 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a diffuse panicle, about 18 cm long, the branches spreading-ascending or often drooping, 6-13 cm long, the branches bearing spikelets mostly toward the tips; spikelets mostly 5- to 12-flowered, flattened, broadly egg-shaped, turgid, 3-8 mm long; glumes unequal, pointed, 1-nerved, translucent-margined, the lower ones lanceolate, 1.6-2.4 mm long, the upper ones broadly egg-shaped, 2.1-3 mm long; lemmas obscurely 7-nerved, broadly egg-shaped, 2.9-4 mm long, blunt or somewhat pointed to sharp-pointed at the tips, the margins thin or translucent; paleas often exposed, rounded to egg-shaped; stamens 2; anthers 0.6-1 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia