General:
Perennial, strongly tufted grass from rhizomes, not bulbous-based; stems erect, wiry, sometimes solid, 40-100 (120) cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths usually closed to the tops, minutely rough to long stiff-hairy; blades rough (and often slightly soft-hairy) on the upper surfaces, usually smooth on the lower surfaces, finely-veined, 1-4 mm wide, flat to in-rolled, the base often short-hairy or somewhat stiff-hairy; ligules usually open in front, more or less fringed with fine hairs to sparsely hairy-fringed (the hairs sometimes as long as the membrane), finely rough-hairy, usually closed and projecting upward in front in broad, rounded to sharp-pointed, triangular teeth, 1-3 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a narrow panicle 10-20 cm long, the branches short, appressed; spikelets closely (2-) 3- to 6-flowered, 10-17 mm long; lower glumes 6-8 mm long, 5-nerved, the upper ones 8-10 mm long, 7-nerved; lemmas strongly fringed with fine hairs on the lower halves, especially along the margins, obscurely 9- to 11-nerved, rounded or with shallow notches at the tips, about 10 mm long, inconspicuously awned, usually with fragile awn tips 0.5-3 mm long; anthers (3) 4 mm long.

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:
Melica harfordii var. minor Vasey