Plants loosely cespitose, with-out rhizomes. Culms 50–100 cm, glabrous, somewhat glau-cous; nodes usually exposed. Sheaths closed for less than 1/3 their length, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, shredding into fibers; ligules 0.5–1 mm; blades 2–10 mm wide, flat, loosely conduplicate, or involute, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, glabrous or puberulent, adaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, veins 13–35, ribs obscure; sclerenchyma in abaxial and adaxial strands; girders formed at most major veins. Inflorescences (8)10–30(40) cm, open, with 1–2 branches per node; branches lax, spreading, spikelets borne towards the ends of branches. Spikelets 6–11 mm, sometimes glaucous, with (2)3–5 florets. Glumes lanceolate, smooth or scabrous, acuminate; lower glumes 4–7 mm; upper glumes 5–7.5 mm; lemmas 5–8 mm, chartaceous, lanceolate, glabrous, usually smooth, sometimes scabrous towards the apices, apices acute to acuminate, unawned, sometimes mucronate; paleas as long as or slightly shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region puberulent distally; anthers 2–3 mm; ovary apices densely pubescent. 2n = unknown.
Festuca versuta grows in moist, shaded sites on rocky slopes in open woods, from Oklahoma and Arkansas to Texas. It is an uncommon species.