Culms clustered, slender, erect, 4–10 dm, glabrous or rarely sparsely puberulent; sheaths ciliate-hairy at the top, otherwise glabrous to softly villous; blades lanceolate, spreading, glabrous or nearly so, ciliate at the cordate base, the larger ones 10–16 cm × 15–40 mm, the lateral veins differentiated into 2 types as in no. 39 [Panicum clandestinum L.]; primary panicle tardily exsert, ovoid with ascending branches, 6–12 cm; spikelets glabrous to softly villosulous, oblong-obovoid, 2.9–3.7 mm, first glume half as long, acute; second glume and sterile lemma shorter than the fr; autumnal phase sparsely branched from the middle nodes, the blades not much reduced or crowded, the panicles small, included at base; 2n=18. Woods and thickets; Que. and Me. to Minn., s. to N.C., Tenn., and Mo. (Dichanthelium l.)