Culms 60-180 cm. Leaves bluish-green, more or less strongly glaucous. Inflorescence units with 2(3) rames; subtending sheaths (2.7)3.1-3.8(5.5) mm wide; peduncles (2)3-4(10) mm; rames (1.4)1.7-3(4) cm, not exserted.
Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus grows on moist or dry soils of the coastal plain, from southern New Jersey to eastern Texas. Plants growing on sandy, well-drained soils differ from those on poorly drained slopes in being glabrous (rather than pubescent) beneath the subtending sheaths of the inflorescence units, and in tending to have shorter rames.