Tufted, 4–10 dm; sheaths glabrous or nearly so, the upper often inflated over the base of the panicle; ligule 2–5 mm; blades smooth or scaberulous, 1–3 mm wide, usually involute; panicle narrow, 2–3.5 dm, the ascending branches each with 1–few spikelets; glumes 15–35 mm, tapering to a long filiform point; mature lemma 9–14 mm, pale brown, villous at base, villosulous to glabrate above, its awn 9–16 cm, very slender, loosely flexuous or coiled, obscurely once geniculate; 2n=44, 46. Dry plains and prairies, often in sandy soil; widespread in the w. cordillera, extending e. across the Great Plains to Minn. and Io., and irregularly to Mich. and n. Ind. (Hesperostipa c.)
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