Culms erect from a short-decumbent base, 4–10 dm; lvs mostly erect, elongate, 1–5 mm wide, usually glabrous; infl with a few drooping branches each bearing 1–3 slender spikelets 2 cm; glumes purple at base, unequal, 5–8 mm; fertile lemmas 8–10 mm, strongly veined, bifid a fourth or a fifth of their length; awns 8–15 mm, eventually divergent; 2n=20. Dry rocky or sandy woods; s. Can. to Alas. and n. Eurasia, s. to Pa., Ky., Nebr., and Mex. Plants with the lvs white-hairy on the veins above, occurring mainly in and near s. Ont. and adj. N.Y., Vt., and N.H., have been described as var. pubescens Dore.
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