E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial tufted grass from fibrous roots and rhizomes, the rhizomes often short and inconspicuous; stems erect or decumbent, 15-70 cm tall/long.

Leaves:
Sheath margins open about 2/3 their length; sterile shoots mainly emerging inside sheaths with well-developed two-keeled buds protecting the scales; blades (0.5) 1-2 (4) mm wide, in-rolled, thick, outer surface smooth; upper ones often absent or very reduced, the uppermost one often vestigial, rigid, always less than 1/5 the sheath length, inner surface of blades of sterile shoots usually distinctly rough or minutely soft-hairy; ligules 0.2-1.8 mm long, the backs smooth or rough.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an erect panicle, 2-12 (30) cm long, lanceolate to egg-shaped, congested, frequently with more than 100 spikelets, the branches 1 to 2 per node, appressed at maturity, smooth or rough; spikelets laterally compressed, (3) 4-8 (12) mm long, 2- to 7- (13-) flowered; the lower glumes 1- to 3-nerved; rachillas smooth, hairless, sparsely short straight-hairy, or sparsely minutely soft-hairy; lemmas lanceolate, 3-6 mm long, the tips sharp-pointed, surface smooth or slightly rough, keel and lateral nerves long silky-hairy, lateral nerves minutely soft- to short silky-hairy, internerves hairless or infrequently minutely soft-hairy; calluses hairless; palea keels rough, medially somewhat minutely soft or short silky-hairy; flowers female; anthers non-functional.

Notes:
Two female-flowered, apomictic subspecies occur in BC:

1. Ligules more than 1.5 mm long, extending down from the base on the margins of the sheaths.................... ssp. longiligula (Scribn. and T. Williams) Soreng

1. Ligules less than 1.5 mm long, not extending down from the base..................... ssp. fendleriana