Agrostis perennans

Tufted perennial 5-10 dm; lvs flat, 2-6 mm wide, elongate, the uppermost one more than 5 cm; infl mostly pale greenish, 10-25 cm, notably longer than thick, the smooth or sparsely scabrous branches forking near or below the middle, soon divaricate, the longest ones often less than 6(-12) cm; spikelets 1.8-2.8 mm; glumes subequal, scabrous on the midvein; lemma 1.3-2 mm, awnless or rarely with a very short, slender awn near the tip; palea obsolete; anthers 0.3-0.6 mm; 2n=42. Various habitats, usually in dry soil; Que. and N.S. to Minn., s. to Fla. and Tex. The foregoing description is based primarily on the widespread and highly variable var. perennans (A. oreophila; A. schweinitzii). Plants of bogs on the coastal plain from N.J. and Md. to Miss. have somewhat larger spikelets (2.7-3.5 mm) on short pedicels, aggregated in spike-like clusters toward the ends of the panicle-branches; these are var. elata (Pursh) Hitchc. (A. elata; A. altissima)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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