Distribution: Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains.

Habitat: Sagebrush desert and ponderosa pine forest openings, occasionally to the subalpine.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Tufted perennial, the culms hollow, erect, usually glabrous, 4-10 dm. tall, often forming clumps 1.5 dm. broad.

Sheaths open, usually glabrous; auricles well-developed; ligules scarcely 1 mm. long; blades usually flat, 1.5-3 mm. broad, usually glabrous on the back and puberulent on the front; leaves numerous.

Inflorescence a loose, open spike 8-15 cm. long; spikelets usually 1 per node, from slightly longer to shorter than the internode, 6- to 8-flowered; glumes 7-9 mm. long, narrowly oblong, 4-5 nerved, sometimes awn-tipped; lemmas 8-11 mm. long, awnless, or with a divergent awn up to 2 cm. long; paleas rounded, slightly exceeding the lemma; anthers purplish.