Awns straight; glumes slightly to strongly bowed out at base; spikelets adpressed to appressed-ascending; glume awns up to 15 mm. Different from other varieties of E. virginicus: lemmae pubescent, spikes more or less glaucous, ligules and auricles usually absent. Flowering somewhat earlier than E. virginicus var. virginicus: July to August (vs. var. virginicus before August).