B. sylvaticum: stems rather slender, erect, 2-3 feet high; leaves flat, rather long; spike simple, drooping; spikelets usually 6-7, each an inch or more in length, nearly cylindrical, becoming flattened when in fruit; outer pales ending in an awn, usually as long as or longer than the glume itself. - Woods, hedges, and thickets. Fl. July.

B. pinnatum has the spikelets more erect, the flowering glumes smaller, and more open, and the awn very much shorter. - Dry limestone wastes. Fl. July.