Culms 5-15 dm; sheaths glabrous; blades 5-8, flat, 10-20 cm נ5-12 mm; infl 1-2 dm, more freely branched than in no. 2 [Melica mutica Walter], with short lateral branches from most of the nodes; spikes short-pedicellate, pendulous, 9-12 mm; first glume broadly ovate or ovate-elliptic, 5-8 נ3.5-5 mm, its margins meeting around the spikelet; fertile lemmas (2)3, the second one usually distinctly projecting beyond the first; sterile lemmas 2, obconic, surpassed by the fertile ones; 2n=18. Rocky or dry upland woods; Pa. to s. Minn. and Nebr., s. to Ga. and Tex.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.