General: Perennial tufted grass from fibrous roots and rhizomes; stems often decumbent, 15-60 cm tall/long with stems and nodes distinctly compressed, some lowermost nodes exserted from sheaths of stem leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths distinctly compressed, margins open 4/5-9/10 their length; blades 1.5-4 mm wide, flat; ligules 1-3 mm long, the tips rounded, margins rough, the backs rough.
Flowers: Inflorescence an erect panicle, 2-10 cm long, lanceolate to egg-shaped, sparse to congested, often interrupted, the branches mostly 1 to 3 per node, eventually spreading, less than 3 cm long, distinctly rough on the angles; spikelets laterally compressed, 3.5-7 mm long, 3- to 7-flowered; glumes 2-3 mm long, the lower ones 3-nerved; rachilla internodes mostly less than 1 mm long, smooth to minutely bumpy; lemmas lanceolate, 2.3-3.5 mm long, the tips sharp-pointed, keel and marginal nerves short silky-hairy, hairless between the nerves; calluses hairless or more often cobwebby; palea keels rough; flowers bisexual; anthers 1.3-1.8 mm long.
Dry to moist areas, roadsides and meadows in the lowland and montane zones; infrequent in S BC; introduced from Eurasia or possibly native, occurring throughout US and S Canada, N to AK.
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)
