Erect, tightly clustered perennial 4–10 dm; lvs very long, narrow, usually involute, crowded toward the base; panicle 1–2 dm × 1.5–3 cm, cylindric to narrowly ovoid, with whorled, ascending, mostly racemiform and basally naked branches, these and the pedicels irregularly interrupted by paler, slightly dilated segments; spikelets 3–6 mm; first glume half as long as the second, subulate above a broader base; second glume acuminate into a carinate or involute tip, usually slightly exceeding the lemma; palea usually slightly exceeding the lemma; fr globose, 1+ mm thick; 2n=72. Dry open ground, especially on prairies, often in slight depressions; O. to Sask. and Tex., e. occasionally to Pa., Conn., and Que.
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