发草(原亚种) fa cao (yuan ya zhong)

Culms up to 120 cm tall. Leaf blades 2–5 mm wide, adaxially densely scabrid. Panicle open, broadly pyramidal, erect, 8–30 cm, silvery green or tinged purple and gold; branches spreading, densely scabrid. Spikelets 4–4.5 mm; glumes equaling or slightly shorter than spikelet, apex acute; lemmas usually awned from near base; awn not or only slightly longer than lemma.

Meadows, river banks, among bushes; 1500–4500 m. Qinghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, Europe, North America; introduced elsewhere].

This is the most widely distributed subspecies, either native or introduced in most cold-temperate regions of the world.