Annual 3-10 dm, the culms usually glabrous; lower sheaths evidently hairy, the upper less so or glabrous; panicle 5-15 cm, narrow, erect or eventually nodding, with erect or strongly ascending branches; spikelets 10-15 mm, 4-10-fld; first glume 4-6 mm, the second 4-7 mm; lemmas 6.5-8 mm, elliptic or narrowly oblanceolate, rounded to a hooded tip; awn 5-9 mm, straight; palea slightly shorter than the lemma; rachilla-joints mostly 1-1.5 mm; anthers 1.5-3 mm; 2n=28. Native of Europe, occasionally intr. in disturbed sites in our range, w. to the Pacific.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
