Culms few-several, erect, ascending, or rarely decumbent at base, 3-8 dm, glabrous to sparsely villous or crisp-puberulent; herbage often purple-tinged or ±glaucous; sheaths ciliate to puberulent on the back; ligule none or very short and erose; blades lanceolate, the larger ones 5-12 cm נ7-18 mm, many-nerved, glabrous on both sides, usually sparsely ciliate at the cordate-clasping base; flag-lf nearly or fully as large as those next below; primary panicle eventually exsert, ovoid with spreading or ascending branches, 5-12 cm; spikelets obscurely short-hairy or glabrous, ellipsoid or oblong-ellipsoid, 2.1-3.4 mm, obscurely pointed; first glume two-fifths or half as long (0.7-1.7 mm), triangular-ovate, subacute; second glume and sterile lemma about equaling or often slightly exceeding the fr; autumnal phase branched from the middle and upper nodes, the uppermost primary internode deciduous, the blades not much reduced, the panicles ±reduced and commonly partly included at base; 2n=18. Woods and thickets; Mass. to Mich. and Mo., s. to Fla. and Tex. (P. ashei; P. joorii; P. mutabile; Dichanthelium c.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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