A native, bunched perennial with erect stems up to 36 inches tall. Flat leaf blades with boat-shaped tips are 2-6 inches long and up to 1/4 inch wide. The flower cluster is an open panicle most often consisting of sets of 5-6 spreading, often drooping branches arranged in whorls at the lower nodes. The spikelets, each with 2-5 florets, occur near the tips of the panicle branches.
Found in moist woodlands. Woodland Bluegrass is uncommon in Childs Hollow at Fontenelle Forest and uncommon in Settlers Hollow at Neale Woods. Flowering occurs in May and June.
Unlike Woodland Bluegrass, the significantly more common Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is a sod-forming grass which forms extensive rhizomes. Other differences between these two species are quite subtle and may overlap. Usually the lower whorl of the Kentucky Bluegrass panicle has fewer (4-5) branches which are spreading or ascending, not drooping. Also, its leaves generally are narrower and the panicle slightly smaller and less open than Woodland Bluegrass.
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