Plants perennial; cespitose, occasionally rhizomatous. Culms 60-110 cm, erect, glabrous, unbranched. Sheaths glabrous; ligules membranous, ciliate, cilia subequal to or longer than the membranous base. Inflorescences terminal, lanceolate or lance-ovate panicles, exceeding the leaves; branches 1 per node. Spikelets bisexual, lanceolate, with 5-10 florets; disarticulation above the glumes and between the florets. Glumes shorter than the adjacent lemmas, about 1/4 as long as the spikelets, lanceolate, glabrous, unawned; calluses densely pubescent; lemmas 5-, 7-, or 9-veined, lanceolate, densely pubescent below and glabrous above, apices truncate to rounded or obtuse, sometimes retuse, unawned; paleas shorter than the lemmas, glabrous, splitting down the midline as the caryopsis matures. Caryopses to 3 mm, suborbicular, concave, glabrous, amber, with 2 persistent hornlike style branches. x = unknown. Named for George Vasey (1822-1893), curator of the United States National Herbarium, and the Greek chloa, grass.
