Flora of North America species comparison

10-100 cm, erect to ascending, usually unbranched.

mostly basal or mostly cauline;

sheaths shorter or longer than the internodes, glabrous, not disintegrating into threadlike fibers at maturity;

collars glabrous, or sparsely pilose at the sides with straight hairs;

ligules less than 0.5 mm;

blades 4-25 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, tightly involute to flat, usually glabrous, sometimes scabridulous abaxially, gray-green, lax to curled at maturity.

usually sparingly branched panicles, occasionally racemes, 3-30 cm long, 2-12 cm wide, with 2 or more spikelets per node;

nodes glabrous or with straight, about 0.5 mm hairs;

primary branches 3-6 cm, appressed to divaricate, varying sometimes within a panicle, stiff to flexible, bases appressed or abruptly spreading, usually without axillary pulvini.

divergent or appressed, with or without axillary pulvini.

usually unequal, lower glumes shorter than the upper glumes, sometimes subequal, light to dark brown or purplish, glabrous, smooth or scabridulous, 1(2)-veined, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;

lower glumes 4-12 mm;

upper glumes 7-25 mm;

calluses 0.5-1.8 mm;

lemmas 6-16 mm, glabrous, scabridulous, or tuberculate, whitish to purplish, apices 0.1-0.8 mm wide, not beaked or the beak less than 3 mm, junction with the awns not conspicuous;

awns (8)13-140 mm, ascending to divaricate, not disarticulating at maturity;

central awns thicker than the lateral awns;

lateral awns (8)13-140 mm, usually subequal to the central awns, occasionally less than 1/3 as long as the central awns;

anthers 3, 0.7-2 mm.

6-14 mm, tan to chestnut.

= 22, 44, 66, 88.