Rhizomatous, 3-6 dm, the culms in large loose tufts; lower sheaths hairy at least at the top; lvs 2-4 mm wide; ligule shorter than wide, broadly rounded or truncate; infl loose and open, ovoid, its slender, widely divergent branches usually paired, bearing a few spikelets above the middle; spikelets 5-8 mm, 3-4-fld, the rachilla-joints 0.8-1.3 mm; first glume 2.3-4.3 mm, the second 3.1-4.8 mm; lemmas distinctly 3-veined (the intermediate veins obscure), ±hairy on the veins and glabrous between them, webbed at base; lowest lemma 3.6-5.2 mm; anthers 2.1-2.8 mm; 2n=28. Moist woods; N.J. to s. Ind., s. to Ga. Early spring.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
Known from Indiana only by a specimen collected in 1837 near New Albany by Dr. A. Clapp, which is now in the herbarium of Wabash College. I found it in southern Ohio the last of March in a habitat that convinces me that it can still be found in Indiana if search is made in early spring in the knobs on the ridges of Virginia pine and chestnut oak.
