Grass Description
Open woodlands, forests, marshes, moist meadows, stream banks and disturbed areas.
General Description
Annual or short-lived perennial with tufted or solitary stems 8 to 48 inches tall, sheaths are open and smooth or covered with small hairs.
Slender perennial with flat blades and narrow seedheads. Seedhead is dense, often spike-like and erect or nearly so. Second spikelet glume is much wider than the lemmas and rounded at the tip. Spikelets are awnless.
Flower Characteristics
Contracted, dense seedheads are 2 to 6 inches long, 3/4 inch wide, erect and spike-like. Spikelets are wedge-shaped and laterally compressed.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades are 2 to 5-1/2 inches long, 1/3 inch wide and usually flat or rarely, slightly involute. Surfaces may be rough or hairy.
This grass produces good quality forage for all classes of livestock early in the spring. It is less palatable later in the season.