An erect grass reaching 20 to 80 cm in height. Leaves are flat and rough with long pointed, toothed ligules and inflated upper sheaths. Panicle oblong, 2 to 8 cm long, with dense, silky, sometimes yellowish.

Either obtain confirmation from a County Recorder before submitting a record, or submit detailed images showing key features.  We recommend that you take and retain a specimen; the County Recorder may wish to see this for confirmation. 

Flowers June and July.

Widespread in much of Britain as a casual introduction from birdseed mix and this has led to more records inland. It is only native to parts of south eastern England. It becomes much less common in the far north.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi & Evans, 1988)

It is on the VC55 Checklist (Jeeves 2011) as Alien (Casual) with 2 recent records