| Author | (Michaux) Beauvois ex Trelease | |
| Distribution | Mountains only, mostly at middle to high elevations.
Newf. to MN south to NJ, OH, and southern WI; in the Appalachians south to SC and GA. | |
| Abundance | Frequent, perhaps even locally common, but overlooked. Plants tend to form patches via slender underground rhizomes. The NCNHP moved the species from the Rare List to the Watch List in 2021. | |
| Habitat | Moist montane forests at middle to high elevations, including maple-birch and spruce-fir forests. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting July-September. | |
| Identification | The stems grow 1-3 feet long and typically lean over, with well-spaced leaves that taper to a fine point and are 3-5 inches long. The inflorescence is mostly 4-7 inches long, composed of strongly ascending spikelets with very long awns (17-24 mm). B. erectum is closely similer, but it occurs at lower altitudes in the mountains and eastward to the Coastal Plain. It differs in its shorter awn (13-17 mm long) and lemmas with hispid hairs (vs. very tiny, scabrous prickles in B. aristosum). | |
| Taxonomic Comments | For many decades, lumped within B. erectum.
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Northern Long-awned Wood-grass | |
| State Rank | S3 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | W1 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
