Flower:

An open spreading panicle at the tip of the stem, elliptic to pyramidal in outline, 2 to 8 inches long, ¾ to 2½ inches wide. Branches are compound, both primary branches and secondary branchlets erect to ascending, with spikelets (flower clusters) loosely arranged on the branch, giving the panicle an airy appearance. Spikelets are lance-elliptic in outline, nearly round in cross-section, 4 to 6 mm (to ¼ inch) long, light green to purplish, with a single floret, and very slender when immature though much expanded at maturity.

At the base of a spikelet is a pair of bracts (glumes), both thin, hairless, awnless, 1-veined with a long taper to a sharply pointed tip and minute teeth towards the tip end, the lower glume lance-linear, 2 to 3.5 mm long and half to ¾ as long as the spikelet, the upper glume 4 to 6 mm long, about as long as the spikelet or nearly so. Florets are surrounded by a pair of bracts (lemma and palea), both thin and egg-shaped with a pointed tip, the lemma 1-veined and 3 to 4.8 mm long, the palea 2-veined and as long as to slightly longer than the lemma, though may appear shorter when fully mature.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are basal and alternate on the lower stem, 1 to 2 mm wide, 12 to 24 inches long, hairless but slightly rough on the underside and along the edges, flat or folded or rolled in along the edges (involute) giving a wiry appearance. The sheath is hairless except occasionally for a few sparse hairs at the tip. The ligule (membrane where the leaf joins the sheath) is a fringe of short hairs. Nodes are smooth.

Stems are slender, hairless, erect to ascending, and multiple from the base. Vegetative shoots are numerous, forming dense mounds of flowering and non-flowering stems, the arching leaves radiating from the center of the clump.

Fruit:

Spikelets turn straw-colored to brown or gray at maturity, the enlarged grain (seed) pushing the spikelet apart, often splitting the palea down the middle. Mature florets drop off individually leaving the glumes behind on the stalk. Grains are shiny yellowish brown, nearly round in outline, 1.5 to 2 mm long, not much flattened.

Notes:

Prairie Dropseed is found throughout Minnesota's prairie regions and is widely adapted to soils ranging from dry and sandy and rock outcrops to low, wet mesic habitats. It is long-lived, forming large, readily recognizable low mounds of fine, dense, hair-like leaves, though it doesn't necessarily stand out in mixed vegetation. Its open spreading panicles are so airy, you can walk right by them and hardly notice. However, in late summer to early fall when many native grasses are turning reddish brown, its golden color is highly visible. All these characteristics make it highly ornamental and it's become quite popular in more formal residential landscapes. Prairie Dropseed is also one of the most fragrant grasses, from small glands at the base of branches.