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.

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:
Festuca megalura
Festuca megalura var. hirsuta (Hack.) Aschers. & Graebn.
Festuca myuros
Vulpia megalura (Nutt.) Rydb.
Vulpia myuros var. hirsuta
Vulpia myuros var. myuros