Tufted perennial (often blooming the first year) 1–7 dm, usually ascending or prostrate; lvs crowded at base; sheaths pilose at the throat; blades flat, 5–20 cm × 2–4 mm, sparsely long-ciliate toward the base; panicle pale, pyramidal, 3–10(–20) × 1.5–6+ cm, the lower branches whorled, widely spreading, somewhat viscid, closely fld, naked toward the base; spikelets pale, 1.2–2 mm; first glume 0.3–1 mm, the second equaling the lemma; 2n=24, 36. Sandy or gravelly soil, along the seashore and in alkaline soil in the interior, sometimes a street-weed; trop. Amer., n. to Kans. and Mo., and as an adventive to N.Y. (S. argutus)
Home