Warm season, perennial bunchgrass. Stems ascending, 10–40 cm long. Leaves: blades 1–2 mm wide, flat and ascending; ligule membranous 1–1.5 mm long; sheaths with overlapping margins. Inflorescences of 5 to 10 secund lateral divergent spikes, each 5–15 cm long and with 10 to 20 spikelets. Spikelets 3–4 mm long, closely appressed to the rachis, with 1 floret; glumes narrow. Lemmas 2–4 mm long, distinctly 3-nerved, awnless or awn-tipped; palea enclosed in floret. Disarticulation below glumes; unit of dispersal is the entire inflorescence (Lavin in
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Disturbed areas including overgrazed rangeland, prairie dog towns, lawns, and shoulders of roads and railroad tracks (Lavin in
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).