Basal branching mainly extravaginal. Blades thin. Panicles 2–8 cm, lax, loosely contracted, sparse, with 2–3(5) branches per node; branches steeply ascending, fairly straight, usually sparsely scabrous, infrequently smooth. Glumes lanceolate to broadly lanceolate; lower glumes 3-veined; calluses glabrous; lemmas with keels short-villous for at least 1/2 their length, usually the lateral veins on at least 1 side of some florets sparsely softly puberulent, infrequently all the lateral veins glabrous; anthers0.8–1.1 mm. 2n = 84.
Poa laxa subsp. banffiana grows primarily in mesic alpine locations of the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the United States. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish from P. glauca.