perennial; culms fascicled, often with numerous innovation shoots, from long slender simple or branched many-noded rhizomes or stolons; culms usually ascending, slender, 3/4–2 ft. long, compressed, often ancipitous, scabrid or pubescent close to the panicle, otherwise smooth and glabrous, 2–3-noded, uppermost internode long exserted; leaves crowded at the base; sheaths tight, striate, glabrous, rarely very sparsely hairy, lower strongly compressed, keeled, often flabellate, 1–2 1/2 in. long, firm, persistent; ligule a very minutely ciliolate rim; blades narrow, linear, tapering to an acute point, 3–6 in. by 1–2 lin. when expanded, flat or folded, usually rather rigid and bright green, glabrous or with scattered fine spreading hairs, particularly below, margins scaberulous; panicle spike-like, cylindric, 1–2 in. (rarely more) by 2 1/2–3 lin., erect, very dense; axis puberulous; branches reduced to a subsessile one-sided involucre, consisting of 4–8 fine scaberulous bristles 2–3 lin. long, yellow or purplish, and subtending 1 perfect and sometimes also 1 or 2 arrested spikelets; spikelets oblong, acute to subobtuse, 1 1/2 lin. long, pallid or tinged with purple, glabrous; glumes firmly membranous, lower broadly ovate, acute or subacute, 1/3– 1/2 the length of the spikelet, 3-nerved, upper ovate-oblong, subobtuse, 1/2– 3/4 the length of the spikelet, 5-nerved; lower floret ♂; valve oblong, acute to subobtuse or subapiculate, 1 1/2 lin. long, 5-nerved; pale slightly shorter; hermaphrodite floret elliptic-oblong, equalling the ♂ or almost so; valve strongly convex, often slightly beaked, 5-nerved, very finely and closely transversely wrinkled, yellowish, or tips purplish; anthers 1 lin. long. null
