Culms clustered, often in large colonies, stout, erect, 6-15 dm, glabrous to sparsely papillose-hirsute; sheaths varying from roughly papillose-hirsute on the back to glabrous, ciliate, pubescent at the top; blades lanceolate, spreading, glabrous, usually papillose-ciliate at the cordate base, the larger ones 10-25 נ2-3 cm, up to ca 6+ times as long as wide, with strongly elevated midvein and sharply differentiated primary veins, the intervening secondary nerves evidently smaller and finer; primary panicle tardily exsert, broadly ovoid, with widely spreading or ascending branches, 7-14 cm; spikelets usually more than 50, sparsely-hairy, oblong-obovoid, 2.5-3.4 mm; first glume a third to half as long, ovate, subacute; second glume slightly shorter than the fr and sterile lemma; autumnal phase early and sparsely branched, the lvs not much reduced, the bristly sheaths strongly overlapping, the panicles much reduced, ±included in the sheaths; 2n=36. Moist woods and thickets; abundant; Que. and N.S. to Mich., Mo., and Okla., s. to Fla. and Tex. (Dichanthelium c.)

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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