Plants cespitose, not rhizom-atous. Culms 30-90 cm, glabrous; basal branching mostly intravaginal. Leaves basally concentrated; sheaths smooth or scabridulous; ligules 1-4 mm, hyaline, truncate, rounded, or acute; basal blades 4-15 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide when flat, 0.5-0.8 mm in diameter when folded or convolute. Panicles 9-15 cm, lower nodes with 1-2 branches; branches 1-6 cm, somewhat flexuous, ascending to divergent. Glumes subequal, 3-6 mm long, 1.3-2 mm wide, ovate, 1-3-veined, apices acute to mucronate; florets 2.2-4.5 mm, obovoid, dorsally compressed; calluses 0.2-0.5 mm, hairy, disarticulation scars elliptic; lemmas coriaceous, evenly pubescent, tan at maturity, margins widely separated even when immature; awns 5-15 mm, persistent, once- or twice-geniculate, first segments strongly twisted; paleas similar to the lemmas in length, texture, and pubescence; anthers 1-2 mm; ovaries developing 2 conelike style bases, each bearing a single, unbranched style. Caryopses about 2.5 mm long, 0.5 mm thick; hila linear, almost equaling the caryopses. 2n = 22.

Piptatherum canadense grows in grasslands and open woods, from the British Columbia-Alberta border east to Newfoundland, extending south into the Great Lakes region and the northeastern United States. Its persistent, longer awns distinguish P. canadense from P. pungens.

Loosely tufted, 3-8 dm; ligules of upper lvs mostly 1.5-3 mm; blades 1-2 mm wide, involute at least when dry, those of the flowering stems to 1 dm, the basal ones longer; panicle lax and open, ovoid, 8-15 cm, with flexuous, capillary, widely spreading branches; glumes elliptic-obovate, 3.5-4.8 mm, perfectly smooth, very thin, the lateral veins inconspicuous; mature lemma 2.5-4 mm, dull brown, rather sparsely appressed-pilose; awn persistent, 6-11 mm, crooked, twisted and often somewhat coiled in the basal half. Dry, sandy or rocky woods; Nf. to Sask., s. to n. N.Y., n. Mich., n. Wis. and n. Minn. (Stipa c.)

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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