General:
Perennial, tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems hollow, often equalled or exceeded by the erect, stiff blades of the offsets at the stem bases, 20-50 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths open; blades of the stems usually greatly reduced or lacking, erect, flat or slightly in-rolled, strongly rough, tapering strongly at each end, 3-7 mm wide; ligules more or less fringed with fine hairs, blunt, usually higher on the sides than at the back, about 0.5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence often a nearly simple raceme with all the flowers and branches more or less to one side, 4-8 cm long; glumes broad, about 7 mm long, nearly equal, 7-nerved, the margins more or less jagged, abruptly narrowed to sharp-pointed tips; lemmas appressed-hairy, about equalling the glumes, stoutly awned from the tips, the awns 5-10 mm long, once bent, strongly crisp-hairy on the upper parts of the calluses; paleas about equal to the lemmas; lodicules 2, lanceolate, faintly 2-nerved, about 5 mm long; anthers about 3.5 mm long, the tips tufted with stiff hairs.

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