Wildrye

Culms solitary or tufted, usually geniculate at base, sometimes erect, 40–130 cm tall, 1–5 mm in diam. Leaf sheath glabrous, or pilose at base; leaf blade flat, 9–25 × 0.3–1 cm, glabrous to scabrous, pilose or pubescent, or densely so. Spike erect or nodding, 10–22 cm; rachis scabrous, margin hispid. Spikelets 1(or 2) per node, green, 10–22 mm excluding awns, with 5–12 florets. Glumes oblong-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, proximal one 6–11 mm, distal one 7–13 mm, 5–7-veined, scabrous, ciliate, or white hirsute along veins and margin, apex acute, acuminate, or pointed. Lemma oblong-lanceolate or oblong, scabrous to hispid or both, margin shortly ciliolate to long ciliate, apex pointed or awned; first lemma 7–12 mm; awn often reflexed, 1–30 mm. Palea oblong-ovate, much shorter than lemma, scabrous or ciliolate along keels distally, apex truncate. Fl. and fr. May–Jul.

Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia].

Mountain slopes, moist meadows, roadsides; 1200–1600 m.