Panicle-branches erect-appressed or spreading, with greenish or purple-tinged spikelets, these not so plump and closely crowded as in the next var.; sterile lemmas awnless or often some of them with ±well-developed awns, sometimes to 25 mm, plants mostly 3-7 dm. (E. occidentalis)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.