"This native perennial grass is 2-4' tall, more or less erect, and unbranched or sparingly so. The culms are light to yellowish green, terete, hollow, and sparingly covered with short stiff hairs. The blades of the alternate leaves are up to 9"" long and 1/3"" across; they are linear, dull green, and somewhat rough on their upper and lower surfaces from short stiff hairs. The margins of the leaf blades are very rough and sharp from fine saw-teeth. The leaf sheaths are light green, finely ribbed, and quite rough from short stiff hairs; each sheath wraps around the culm, except for a narrow V-shaped opening at its apex. The short ligules lack significant hairs and papery membranes. The nodes along each culm are pubescent and slightly swollen. Each culm terminates in a panicle of spikelets up to 8"" long and 4"" across; when fully open and exerted from the uppermost leaf, the panicle is broader at the base than the apex and its branchlets spread outward. However, young panicles are often only partially exerted from the uppermost leaf and their branchlets are more erect. The lower half of each branchlet is naked, while the upper half has about 4-12 contiguous spikelets. These spikelets are often arranged in a row on one side of the branchlet. Each spikelet is about 4.0–5.0 mm. long, 1.5–2.0 mm. across, and light green; it consists of a single lemma and an enclosed palea. There are no glumes. Each lemma is the same size as the spikelet, while the palea is a little smaller. The lemma is oblongoid and somewhat flattened; one side of the lemma is more rounded than the other. The keel of the lemma has short stiff hairs. The flower of each lemma has 3 stamens with white anthers and 2 feathery white stigmas. The blooming period occurs during late summer into the fall. Pollination is by wind. Each spikelet produces a single grain. The root system is rhizomatous and fibrous. Dense colonies of plants are often produced.

 

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