General:
Annual, tufted grass from fibrous roots, often rooting at the lower nodes, sometimes forming perennial mats; stems solid, erect to abruptly bent, freely branching below, (3) 5-20 (35) cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth or minutely rough; blades flat or in-rolled, 0.6-1.6 mm wide, 1-4 (6) cm long, rough to hairy above, smooth or minutely rough below; ligules translucent to membranous, blunt to sharp-pointed, 1-3.5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a very narrow, compact, spikelike, interrupted panicle, 1.6-6 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, few-flowered, the branches ascending, closely appressed, 0.9-1.2 cm long; spikelets 1-flowered, nearly unstalked to short-stalked; glumes greenish-grey, smooth, more or less jagged, 1-nerved, 0.6-1.7 mm long, subequal, blunt, rounded to nearly sharp-pointed, the awn tips about 0.4 mm long, the lower ones 0.6-1.4 mm long, the upper ones 0.7-1.7 mm long; lemmas lanceolate, dark greenish, with appressed, inconspicuous hairs along midnerves and margins on the lower 3/4 or smooth, minutely rough near the tips, (1.5) 1.8-2.5 (3.2) mm long, including the long-pointed to sharp-pointed, less than 1 mm long, awnlike tips, the calluses not bearded; paleas lanceolate, minutely rough near the tips, 1.6-2.6 (3.1) mm long; anthers 0.5-1.2 mm long, purplish.

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:
Muhlenbergia filiformis var. fortis E.H. Kelso
Muhlenbergia idahoensis H. St. John
Muhlenbergia simplex (Scribn.) Rydb.