Delicate, slender plants of forests, or more robust, freely branching plants of disturbed habitats, 3–10 dm, the nodes glabrous to densely bearded, the herbage otherwise glabrous or sometimes sparsely hairy; sheaths usually shorter than the internodes; ligule a band of short hairs ca 1 mm or less; blades of main cauline lvs thin, 5–12(–15) cm × 3–10(–13) mm, spreading, the flag-lf nearly or fully as large as the next 2 below; panicles well exsert, open, with ± spreading branches, branchlets, and pedicels, the spikelets never secund; spikelets glabrous or occasionally short-hairy, ellipsoid, 1.5–2.9 mm; first glume a third as long, usually acute; second glume rounded above, shorter than the sterile lemma, both shorter than the fr; autumnal phase much branched above the middle, commonly with fascicles of branchlets, erect or reclining from its own weight, the blades 2–5 cm × 2–5 mm, the panicles much reduced; 2n=18. Woods and open, disturbed habitats; N.B. and s. Can. to Mich., s. to Fla. and Tex. (P. annulum; P. barbulatum; P. clutei; P. lucidum; P. mattamuskeetense; P. microcarpon; P. nitidum; P. roanokense; Dichanthelium d.)
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