Hierochloe laxa - Lax Sweet-Grass

Lax Sweet-Grass is a rhizome forming perennial grass with stems 20-75 cm high, erect. Leaf-blades are 2.5-17 cm long, 4-14 mm wide, rounded at the base, abruptly pointed at the tip, smooth. Ligule is 0.75-2.5 mm long. Flower panicles are oblong, 5-16 cm long, loose, the branches capillary and bare of spikelets in the lower half. Spikelets are 5-7 mm long, glumes ovate, pointed, 4-7 mm long. Male florets have lemma 4.5-5.5 mm long, truncate or shallowly toothed at the tip and with an awn 0.5-3 mm long. Lemma of fertile spikelets 3-4 mm long, hairy above the middle with usually prominently spreading hairs, awnless or with an awn up to 2 mm long. Lax Sweet-Grass is a common grass of alpine meadows and rock ledges, found in Pakistan, Kashmir and western Himalayas, at altitudes of 3000-5000 m. Flowering: July-August.