Culms clustered, 2-5 dm, erect, without rhizomes; lvs glaucous, lax, 1-3 mm wide, the uppermost one at or below the middle of the shoot; ligule 1-2 mm; infl long-exsert, narrow, rather dense, 3-12 cm, the branches in sets of 2-5, at first ascending, later spreading, each with a few 2-4-fld spikelets; glumes lanceolate, subequal, 2.3-3.8 mm, less than half as wide; lemmas 2.5-3.5 mm, densely sericeous or villosulous on the lower half of the keel and marginal veins, not webbed, the intermediate veins obscure; rachilla puberulent at 30׻ anthers 1-2.2 mm; 2n=42, 49, 56, 63, 70. Gravelly or rocky soil and cliffs; circumboreal, s. to Vt., n. Mich., and ne. Minn. (P. glaucantha; P. scopulorum)

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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