Perennial 4–10 dm, tufted on a knotty base; lvs to 2 dm, mostly flat, 1–4 mm wide; lower sheaths covering the nodes, usually ± pilose; infl 1–2 dm, slender, loosely or densely spike-like, with short, ascending or appressed branches; glumes 1-veined, the first 8–14 mm, scabrous on the keel and sometimes on the sides, the second 6.5–11.5 mm, almost always exceeding the lemma and exceeded by the first glume; lemma 5.5–9.5 mm; awns about equally divergent, the central one 2–3.5 cm, the lateral 1.5–2.5 cm. Dry sandy soil and prairies; Mass. to s. Ont., Wis., and Kans., s. to Fla. and Tex.
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