Description: This introduced perennial grass is 3-6'
tall at maturity. It consists of a dense tuft of basal leaves from low
vegetative shoots and slender culms with a few alternate leaves; each culm
terminates in an inflorescence on a long naked stalk. The culms are light
green, terete, and glabrous; later they become
straw-colored.
Both the basal and cauline leaves have a similar appearance. Their blades are
up to 10" long, 1/3" across, green, and hairless. The blades of the basal
leaves spread outward, while the blades of the cauline leaves spread outward
and then droop toward their tips. The leaf sheaths are dull light green and
hairless; they have longitudinal veins. The ligules have long papery membranes
that become more or less shredded. The inflorescence consists of a panicle of
spikelets; the branching pattern of this panicle tends to occur along a
2-dimensional plane. The panicle is up to 8" long and consists of a few short
branches that are stiff and ascending. Each branch has a dense tuft of
spikelets along it upper half, otherwise it is naked. While the flowers are
blooming and shortly afterwards, this panicle may span up to 4" across;
however, both before and afterwards, it is more narrow. Each spikelet consists
of a dense tuft of 3-7 florets and their lemmas; there is pair of glumes at the
bottom. The spikelets are whitish green while their florets are blooming, but
they later become tan, brown, or nearly white. The glumes are
linear-lanceolate, keeled, and unequal in size; the shorter glume of a pair is
about 5 mm. in length, while the longer glume is about 6 mm. in length. The
lemmas are linear-lanceolate and ciliate along their keels; they are about 5-8
mm. in length. In each spikelet, the upper lemmas tend to be shorter than the
lower lemmas. Each floret has a pair of white plumose styles and 3 stamens with
large white anthers. The blooming period occurs from late spring to mid-summer.
Pollination is by wind. The root system consists of short rhizomes and fibrous
roots.