Field Marks: This distinctive grass differs from all other grasses that have 1-flowered spikelets by its narrow bluish leaves not more than 1/3 inch broad and its delicate, open panicle.
Habitat: Wet meadows, wet prairies.
Habit: Perennial grass with rhizomes.
Stems: Erect, unbranched, smooth, up to 5 feet tall.
Leaves: Elongated, very narrow, bluish, up to 1/3 inch broad, not hairy but rough to the touch.
Flowers: Borne singly in spikelets, with many spikelets on slender stalks, forming an open panicle; each spikelet up to 1/6 inch long; glumes narrow, pointed; lemma with a delicate awn not exserted beyond the entire spikelet.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior; stigmas 3-cleft.
Grains: Ellipsoid, yellow-brown, smooth, about 1/16 inch long.