Japan Flora: Perennial, from a decumbent, densely tufted base; culms 30-40 cm. long, solitary to several, smooth; leaf-blades flat, glabrous, linear or shortly so; ligules membranous, slightly yellowish, truncate to semirounded, 1-2.5 mm. long; uppermost leaf-sheath slightly inflated at tip, with a short blade; panicle long-exserted, ellipsoid or short-cylindric, 1.5-3 cm. long, 8-10 mm. wide, pale green, sometimes slightly purple-tinged; spikelets flattened, about 3 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, rounded at base; glumes 3-nerved, rounded-truncate, the keel with hairs about 1 mm. long, excurrent as a rigid awn about 2 mm. long; lemmas about 2 mm. long, glabrous; anthers yellow, sometimes slightly purple-tinged, oblong, about 1 mm. long. July-Aug. Alpine regions;

Hokkaido (Mount Taisetsu), Honshu (centr. distr.); rare. Formosa, Korea, Kuriles, also in alpine and boreal regions of the N. Hemisphere and arctic America.