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A tiny rhizomatous plant, with culms terete, smooth but grooved, 5-14 cm long, ~1 mm wide.

Leaves very short and small, much shorter than clums at flowering.

Spikelets <5 mm long, single at stem tip, 3-6 flowered; style 3-parted; bracts below spikelet are shorter than spikelet.

Achenes without stalks or tubercle; perianth bristles absent (this not clear in Kershaw & Allen key at couplet 5b, should say 0-8 bristles not 1-8, and drawing shows bristles implying always present).

http://floranorthamerica.org/Trichophorum_pumilum

Sample collected by permit.

Glyceria borealis was heavily grazed along the shore of this reservoir or stock pond. This was the only flowering stem left after several days of cattle grazing.

For a species diagnosis, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/sets/72157687240112500/

Prairie sagewort is common in the sagebrush steppe of the Heart Mountain area, even sometimes when rangeland is in good ecological condition.

Prairie sagewort is a native mat-forming subshrub or forb with stems up to about 60 cm tall. This species is common to grasslands and sagebrush steppe, and tolerates fairly high levels of disturbance including regular overgrazing (as do all Artemisia forbs and subshrubs). Its finely dissected leaves are mostly clustered at the base of flowering stems and have ultimate segments (divisions) that are less than 1 mm wide. The flowering heads are pendulous and the receptacle is hairy, traits shared with Artemisia absinthium.