Tufted, slender, 3-8 dm; lvs short, usually hairy (at least the lower), the upper sometimes merely scaberulous, the main ones 2-5 mm wide; infl slender to diffuse, never spike-like, often with spreading branches to 10 cm; spikelets 2.5-4 mm; glumes subequal, 1.5-3.5 mm, the first one blunt, wider than in the other spp., 0.2-0.5 mm wide in side-view and 1/3-2/3 the width of the second glume; second glume 0.5-1 wide in side-view, widest near the blunt tip; lemmas oval, blunt to acute, rarely short-awned, the first 2-3.5 mm, smooth to scabrous, the second smaller, very scabrous; anthers 1.2-1.6 mm; 2n=14. Dry or moist woods and hillsides; Mass. to Mich. and Ill., s. to n. Fla., Mo., and Tex.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.