Tall Trisetum

Trisetum canescens Buckl. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1862; 100. 1863
Trisetum (ernuum var. canescens Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 380. 1896. (Based on T. canescens Buckl.) Trisetum canescens i. tonsum Louis-Marie, Rhodora 30: 216. 1928. (Type from Trinity Co.,
California, Yates 533.) Trisetum canescens i. velutinum Louis-Marie, Rhodora 30: 216. 1928. (Tyjre from Lassen's Peak,
California.) Trisetum projeclum Louis-Marie, Rhodora 30: 217. 1928. (Type from Fresno Co., Calif., Hall &■
Chandler 359.)
Perennial, culms erect or decumbent at the base, glabrous, 60-120 cm. tall; sheaths, at least the lower, sparsely to densely and softly retrorse-pilose, rarely scabrous only; ligule scaberulous, truncate, erose-dentate, ciliate, 1-2 mm. long; blades flat, scabrous or canescent, sometimes sparsely pilose, mostly 2-7 mm. wide; panicle narrow, usually loose and somewhat nodding, sometimes interrupted and spikelike, 10-25 cm. long, the axis scabrous, the branches verticillate, some longer and naked below, some short ones intermixed, sometimes all short, making the panicle narrow and interrupted; spikelets about 8 mm. long, 2-flowered or 3flowered, the florets not so distant as in T. cernuum, the rachilla strongly villous; glumes smooth except the keel, the first narrow, 1 -nerved, acuminate, the second broad, acute, 3-nerved, 5-7 mm. long; lemmas rather firm, scaberulous, the upper exceeding the glumes, 5-6 mm. long, the teeth aristate; awn geniculate, spreading, loosely twisted below, attached one third below the tip, usually about 12 mm. long.
Type locality: Columbia plains, Oregon (NuttalV).
Distribution: Mountain meadows, moist ravines, and along streams, Montana to British Columbia, and southward to central California.