General:
Perennial grass from fibrous roots, rhizomes and stolons; stems erect or decumbent, 7-30 cm tall, about 0.5 mm wide.

Leaves:
Sheath margins open 1/3-2/3 their length; sterile shoots slender, tufted; blades 0.5-1.5 mm wide, in-rolled, mostly threadlike, moderately thick, outer surface smooth, inner surface of blades of sterile shoots usually distinctly rough or minutely soft-hairy; ligules 0.5-2 mm long, the tips blunt to sharp-pointed, backs rough.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an erect panicle, 1-5 cm long, moderately congested, loosely contracted, the branches 1 to 2 per node, sparsely to distinctly rough; spikelets laterally compressed, 3-8 mm long, 2- to 5-flowered; glumes unequal, the lower ones 2.5-3 mm long, 1- to 3-nerved, the upper ones 3-4 mm long; rachillas hairless or sparsely minutely soft-hairy; lemmas lanceolate, 2.5-4 (4.5) mm long, the tips sharp-pointed, surface finely rough, hairless, or keel and some marginal nerves sparsely minutely soft-hairy below; calluses hairless or diffusely, shortly, sparsely cobwebby; palea keels rough; flowers of different plants female, male or all or partially bisexual (mixed female and bisexual); anthers vestigial or 1.5-2 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