Japan Flora: Tufted, glaucous-green perennial; culms slender, somewhat firm, erect, 30-60 cm. long, sometimes reddish at the base, scabrous on the upper part of the internodes and below the panicle; leaf-blades glaucous-green, slightly in­volute, scabrous, 5-15 cm. long, 1.5-3 mm. wide; ligules lan­ceolate, acute, 3-8 mm. long; panicles erect, 5-15 cm. long, lanceolate, contracted, the branches 3- to 6-nate, scabrous, erect to ascending; spikelets pale- or glaucous-green, ovate, 3-5 mm. long, 3- to 6-flowered; glumes unequal, lanceolate, acute, the lower 1.5-2 mm. long, 1-nerved, the upper 3-nerved, 2-2.5 (-3) mm. long; lemmas about 3 mm. long, rather acute, glabrous on both sides, pubescent on the lower 1/2-3/4 of the keel and on 1/3-2/3 the length of the marginal nerves, the web rather copious; anthers 1.2-1.5 mm. long. May-July. Sandy, sunny places; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; very common. China, e. Siberia, Korea, and Formosa. 

var. subtrivialis Ohwi. Plant larger, with open panicles. Honshu (Mino Prov. and Chugoku Distr.), Shikoku