Vigorously rhizomatous; culms usually 3-6 dm, their sheaths few, elongate, bladeless or with lanceolate blades rarely over 3 cm; panicle pyramidal, 5-10 cm, with widely spreading or somewhat drooping branches; glumes shiny, ovate, 4-6 mm; staminate lemmas equaling the glumes or slightly shorter, often hairy on the back, awnless, sharply acute; fertile lemma shorter, hairy at the tip; 2n=28, 42, 56. Often apomictic or infertile. Moist soil, meadows, or bog-margins; circumboreal, s. to N.J., Md., O., Io., and Ariz. (H. nashii)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
