Habit:		Perennial from creeping rhizomes, sod forming.
Culms:		50-110 cm. tall.
Blades:		Smooth or nearly so, 15-25 cm. long, 5-10 mm. wide, finely pubescent as a seedling.
Sheaths:	Glabrous (except as a seedling), the lower sheaths overlapping.
Ligule:		Membranous, 0.5-2 mm long.
Inflorescence:	Terminal panicle 10-20 cm. long, erect, the branches whorled, 
                moderately spreading in flower, contracted at maturity.
Spikelets:	2-4 cm. long, 4-5 mm. wide; usually large, often dropping, 
                4 to 10-flowered, subterete before flowering.
Glumes:		2, awnless, membranous, persistent, narrow, unequal, acute, 
                first 5-8 mm. long and usually 1-nerved, second 6-10 mm. long and 
                usually 3-nerved.
Lemmas:		The lowest 9-12 mm. long, obtuse, emarginate, typically glabrous,
                rounded or slightly keeled on the back, 5-9-nerved, mucronate, 
                or with an awn 1-2 mm. long.
Palea:		Shorter than the lemma, 2-keeled.
Caryopsis:	Furrowed, adhering to the palea.
Habitat:	Planted as a pasture grass, often used in roadside plantings.
Growth Period:	Begins growth in early spring, flowers in late May to mid July, 
                and has a second growth period in the fall.