Tufted, stiffly erect, 3-8 dm, without rhizomes; lvs mostly crowded toward the base, erect, 1-2 mm wide; ligule truncate, 1 mm; infl 5-10 cm, narrow, its branches ascending; spikelets resembling those of no. 14 [Poa palustris L.]; first glume nearly as wide as but distinctly shorter than the first lemma; rachilla merely scaberulous at 30 2n=28, 42, 56. Dry woods; widespread in the cordilleran region and on the n. Great Plains, e. to Minn., Mich., Vt. and Que.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.