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

General:
Annual, loosely tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems sometimes solitary, erect (sometimes bent or angled at the lower nodes), (5) 10-60 (90) cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths all smooth or the lower ones hairy; blades rolled or sometimes flat, usually smooth or short-hairy on top, 0.5-3 mm wide; ligules 0.2-0.6 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an erect panicle (sometimes reduced to a raceme), (3) 5-18 (25) cm long, often partly enclosed by the sheaths at maturity; spikelets 5.5-12 mm long (excluding the awns), 3- to 5- (8- ) flowered; glumes smooth or short-hairy, the lower glumes smooth, 1-nerved, often greatly reduced, scale-like, 0.2-1.5 (2.5) mm long, the upper glumes 1- to 3-nerved, 2.5-5.5 mm long; lemmas smooth or hairy toward the tips, lanceolate, 4.5-7.5 mm long, the terminal awns (5) 8-15 (22) mm long; anthers 1 (rarely 2 or 3), 0.5-1.5 mm long.