Annual 2–4 dm, branched from the base and usually from all the nodes; lvs 1 mm wide, flat or involute, tapering to a filiform point; terminal panicle 1–2 dm, very lax, few-fld, the lower spikelets usually paired, the upper solitary; lateral panicles few-fld, dense, with short internodes; first glume 3-or 5-veined, scabrous on the keel, 12–29 mm, the second 1-nerved, glabrous, slightly longer; lemma 10–18 mm; awns about equally divergent, 4–7 cm; 2n=22. Dry open ground; Mass. and N.J., where probably intr., to Fla. and Tex.; abundant in the interior, from Ky. and O. to Mich., S.D., and Tex., and adventive in s. Ont.
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