Flattened Oatgrass

Danthonia compressa Aust. in Peck, Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Cab. 22:54. 1869.
Danthonia spicala var. compressa Wood, Bot. & Fl. ed. 1871. 396. 1871. (Based on D. compressa
Aust.) Danthonia Alleni Aust. Bull. Torrey Club 3; 21. 1872. (Rockaway, Long Island, Allen.) Danthonia Faxoni Aust. Bull. Torrey Club 6: 190. 1877. (White Mountains, New Hampshire,
Faxon in 1877.) Merathrepta compressa A. Heller, Muhlenbergia 5: 120. 1909. (Based on Danthonia compressa
Aust.) Pentameris compressa Nelson & Macbr. Bot. Gaz. 56: 469. 1913. (Based on Danthonia compressa
Aust.)
Culms compressed, rather loosely tufted, 40-80 cm. tall, erect or sometimes decumbent at the base or with short rhizomes; sheaths reddish above the nodes, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on the collar, with a conspicuous tuft of white hairs in the throat ; blades elongate, some of them commonly 20-25 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, usually flat, sometimes involute and subfiliform, scabrous; panicle 5-8 cm. (rarely up to 10 cm.) long, the slender branches bearing 2 or 3 spikelets, somewhat contracted after anthesis; glumes 10-14 mm., usually about 12 mm. long; lemmas 4—5 mm. long, sparsely villous nearly to the summit, the awned dorsal teeth 2-3 mm. long; terminal segment of the awn 5-6 mm. long; palea obtuse.
Type locality: Herkimer County, New York (Austin in 1868).
Distribution: Nova Scotia to Quebec, southward to Ohio and Virginia, and in the mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee.