Culms 20-120 cm. Panicles more than twice as long as wide, relatively contracted, usually nodding, not fully exserted; branches ascending to appressed; pulvini almost absent. Upper florets stramineous to orange, not disarticulating at maturity.
Panicum miliaceum subsp. miliaceum is the subspecies used in bird seed. It probably rarely persists because of the retention of the upper florets on the plant and, in northern states, poor seed survival over winter.