General:
Perennial, loosely to densely tufted grass from fibrous roots, sometimes with short rhizomes; stems 20-80 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth, the margins open about 1/10 their length; sterile shoots emerging mainly inside sheaths with tubular two-keeled buds protecting the scales; blades 1.5-5 mm wide, flat; ligules 0.5-2 mm long, the tips blunt, the backs smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a lax panicle, 6-22 cm long, narrowly lanceolate, sparse, the branches 1 to 3 per node, ascending, lax, rough on angles; spikelets laterally compressed, 3.5-7 mm long, (1-) 2- (4-) flowered; lower glumes 1-nerved; rachilla internodes about 1 mm long, smooth, hairless; lemmas narrowly lanceolate, 3.2-5 mm long, the tips long-pointed, surface smooth, hairless, the lateral nerves moderately prominent; calluses sparsely cobwebby; palea keels smooth to rough; flowers bisexual; anthers 0.5-1.2 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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Poa saltuensis var. marcida (Hitchc.) B. Boivin