Culms 1-2 m, glabrous below the panicle; blades 10-15 mm wide, pilose only at base; panicle narrow, 2-3 dm, brown or purple, its axis and branches sparsely long-villous; spikelets ca 8 mm, sparsely long-villous, about equaling the pale or white subtending hairs; awn 15-20 mm, flattened, spirally twisted below. Moist soil and waste ground, mostly on the coastal plain; Md. to Fla. and Tex., thence n. to Tenn. and Ark. (Saccharum brevibarbe var c.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.