Spikelets 1-fld, articulated above the glumes; glumes about equal, narrow, acute or acuminate, 1-veined, somewhat keeled; lemma acute to obtuse, evidently shorter than to nearly equaling the glumes, rounded on the back, obscurely nerved, awnless or short-awned from the back, rarely the awn to 1 cm and borne just below the tip; callus often minutely bearded; palea delicate, ±reduced or obsolete, seldom as much as three-fourths as long as the lemma; rachilla in most spp. not prolonged behind the palea; annuals and perennials with expanded or contracted panicles of small spikelets. 100+, mainly temp. and subarctic.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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