Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Sagebrush desert and grasslands to lower mountain forests; often a weed of roadsides and waste land.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Annual, the culms 2-5 dm. tall.

Sheaths closed, densely long-hairy; ligules 0.5-1.5 mm. long, hairy; blades flat, 1.5-3 mm. broad.

Inflorescence an open, pyramidal panicle 7-15 cm. long, spreading or drooping, the pedicles longer than the spikelets; spikelets 7- to 12-flowered, 20-25 mm. long, glabrous; first glume lanceolate, 3-nerved, 4-6 mm. long, the second 5-nerved, somewhat longer and broader; lemmas broadly oblong-lanceolate, curved around the fruit, 8-10 mm. long, the tip obtuse, but splitting to the awn, which is attached 1-2.5 mm. below the tip; awn 8-12 mm. long, twisted and bent; paleas 1.5-3 mm. shorter than the lemmas; anthers not exerted.