Flower:

A single erect spike 4 to 8+ inches long at the tip of the stem with a single spikelet (flower cluster) at each node, the spikelets appressed to slightly ascending, the space between nodes (internodes) half to nearly as long as the spikelet. Spikelets are flattened, the flat side pressed against the stem, arranged alternately on opposite sides of the stem, 11 to 18 mm long and have 3 to 10 florets; the uppermost floret(s) may be sterile.

At the base of a spikelet is a pair of bracts (glumes), both leathery, stiff, flat to rounded at the tip, awnless, hairless or hairy (depending on var), the upper glume 5.5 to 8.5 mm long and 5 to 7-veined, the lower glume somewhat shorter and 5 to 6-vened. Florets are surrounded by a pair of bracts (lemma and palea), the lemma hairless or hairy or just hairy on the edges, 5 to 7-veined, 7.5 to 10 mm long, rarely with an awn up to 5 mm long; the palea is somewhat shorter than the lemma, 2-veined, finely hairy along the keels.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are alternate, ascending, up to 12 inches long, up to 8 mm (1/3 inch) wide, mostly flat, hairless to sparsely hairy. The sheath is hairless except sometimes for a fringe of hairs along the edge, and has a pair of small papery lobes (auricles) at the sheath apex. The ligule (membrane where the leaf joins the sheath) is up to .8 mm long and lacks a fringe of hairs. Nodes are hairless or hairy. Stems are unbranched, hairless to sparsely hairy, usually erect, single or a few from the base, and forms colonies from elongating rhizomes. The whole plant is sometimes covered in a waxy bloom (glaucous) giving a blue-green cast.

Fruit:

The entire spikelet drops off at maturity leaving a naked stem behind.

Notes:

Intermediate Wheatgrass, known as Elymus hispidus in some references, is a non-native grass that has been widely planted as a forage crop and for erosion control throughout the western of the US. It is uncommon in Minnesota but is very likely under-reported due to its strong resemblance to the ubiquitous weedy Quackgrass (Elymus repens), both of which are rhizomatous and colony-forming, and spikelets drop off in their entirety at maturity. Probably the most reliable way to distinguish the two is by the glumes, which are leathery and stiff, mostly flat or rounded at the tip and never awned on Intermediate Wheatgrass, while they are comparatively thin, flexible, pointed at the tip and sometimes awned on Quackgrass.

There are 2 recognized subspecies of T. intermedium: subsp. barbulatum has moderately to densely hairy spikelets, subsp. intermedium is mostly hairless. The related Thinropyrum ponticum (a.k.a. T. obtusiflorum), Tall Wheatgrass, is another introduced grass with a widespread distribution, though not known to be in Minnesota; it is clump-forming rather than rhizomatous.