Loosely tufted, rhizomatous and sod-forming, sometimes with stolons as well, 2-6 dm; culms and sheaths smooth; ligule mostly 0.5-2 mm, wider than high, ±truncate; lvs usually spreading or ascending, 2-4 mm wide; panicle 4-15(-20) cm, permanently open, with smooth, divaricate branches and branchlets, even the pedicel-tips smooth; spikelets 2-3 mm, not crowded; glumes glabrous, or scabrous distally on the keel; lemma 1.5-2.5 mm, acute or acutish, rarely awned from the back; callus minutely bearded; palea half to two-thirds as long as the lemma; anthers 0.8-1.5 mm; 2n=28-35. Native of Europe and perhaps e. Can., widely cult. in cooler Amer. for lawns and pastures, and escaped from Nf. to Mich., s. to N.C. and O., and in w. U.S. (A. tenuis)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
