Basal branching mainly intravaginal. Blades very thin. Panicles 2–8 cm, lax, loosely contracted, sparse, with 1–3 branches per node; branches flexuous, smooth or infrequently very sparsely scabrous. Glumes lanceolate; calluses of at least some proximal florets sparsely webbed, rarely all glabrous; lemmas with keels short-villous for at least 1/2 their length, lateral veins glabrous; anthers (0.6)0.8–1.1(1.3) mm. 2n = 42.
Poa laxa subsp. fernaldiana is native from Newfoundland south to New England.