Native grass which occurs in rich, moist woods, along streams and at the base of limestone bluffs. Features erect to arching, shiny, narrow, bright green blades which gradually turn golden in fall and then tan in winter. Greenish summer flowers appear in drooping panicles on stems rising above the foliage. Flowers give way in mid to late summer to hard, brown seed heads. Each seed is tapered to a blunt point like a beak resulting in the common names of American Beakgrass or Beakgrain.