General:
Annual grass from fibrous roots, smooth to short-hairy, basally branched; stems mostly 30-70 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths usually minutely rough but sometimes soft-hairy; blades flat but becoming in-rolled, usually smooth on the upper surfaces but rough on the lower ones, 1-3 mm wide; ligules smooth, rounded, usually jagged, 1-8 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an open panicle, 10-40 cm long, the branches spreading to drooping; spikelets usually 3-flowered; glumes sometimes awn-tipped, the lower ones 6- or 7-nerved, 5-6.5 mm long, the upper ones 8- or 9-nerved, 7-9 mm long; lower lemmas slightly exceeding the glumes, awned from long-pointed tips, the awns 1-3 mm long; upper 1 or 2 lemmas with bristlelike teeth, the teeth 1.5-2 mm long, awned, the awns attached on the backs, twisted and abruptly bent, 10-16 mm long; lodicules about 0.7 mm long; anthers about 1.3 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:
Avena dubia Leers
Ventenata avenacea Koel.