Plants perennial; cespitose. Culms 8-55 cm, sometimes geniculate and branched basally, usually curving distally; internodes minutely retrorsely pubescent, mostly solid. Leaves mostly basal; sheaths compressed-keeled, closed, glabrous, margins scarious; ligules 1-3.5 mm, membranous, lanceolate; blades 1-12 cm long, 0.7-2 mm wide, stiff, usually folded, often spirally twisted, midrib well-developed, margins thick and whitish. Inflorescences terminal, panicles of widely spaced, racemosely arranged, spikelike branches, exceeding the upper leaves; branches strongly divergent, with distant to slightly imbricate, closely appressed spikelets. Spikelets 3-5.5 mm, mostly sessile, compressed laterally, with 1 floret; florets bisexual; disarticulation at the base of the panicle and above the glumes. Glumes unequal, lanceolate, 1-veined; lemmas usually exceeding the glumes, 3-veined, unawned or shortly awned; paleas subequal to the lemmas; anthers 3; styles 2. Caryopses fusiform. x = 10. Name from the Greek schedon, near; Steudel considered Schedonnardus to be closely related to Nardus.

Schedonnardus is a monotypic North American genus that grows in the prairies and central plains of Canada, the United States, and northwestern Mexico. It has also been found, as a recent introduction, in California and Argentina. It is not known if it is established in California.

1.   Schedonnardus paniculatus (Nutt.) Trel.
Tumblegrass

Panicles 5-50 cm, rachises becoming curved; branches 2-8(16) cm. Lower glumes 1.5-3 mm; upper glumes 1.5-4(5.5) mm; lemmas 3-5 mm; anthers 0.7-1.4 mm. Caryopses 2.5-3.5 mm. 2n = 20, 30.

Schedonnardus paniculatus is frequently found in disturbed areas. At maturity, the panicle breaks at the base and functions as a tumbleweed for seed dispersal. It is often a conspicuous feature of deserted towns in films of the American West.