Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, loosely tufted. Basal branching mainly pseudointravaginal. Culms 31–126 cm. Sheaths closed for 1/2–7/8 their length; ligules 0.1–1.7(2.1) mm, smooth or sparsely scab-rous, truncate to obtuse; blades0.8–4.1 mm wide, flat, lax. Panicles 11.4–36 cm, erect or lax, narrowly pyramidal, usually open, infrequently contracted; nodeswith (2)3–5(7) branches; branches spreading, straight, angled, angles sparsely to moderately scabrous. Spikelets 3.5–6.7 mm, laterally compressed; florets 2–4; rachilla internodes glabrous. Glumes ovate, distinctly keeled, keels scabrous; lower glumes 1-veined; upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas; calluses webbed; lemmas 2.7–4.2(5) mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels short-villous to about midlength, marginal and lateral veins glabrous, lateral veins obscure or moderately prominent, intercostal regions glabrous, smooth, apices acute; paleas glabrous or ciliolate over the keels, apices finely scabrous; anthers 0.4–0.8 mm. 2n = unknown.
Poa alsodes grows in mesic woodlands of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, extending south to Illinois, Tennessee, and North Carolina, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains.