Flora of North America species comparison

normally horizontal for only a short distance before turning up to form a culm, sometimes hollow-centered, air canals sometimes present.

leaves: abaxial ligules glabrous or ciliate, fimbriate or lacerate;

blades 5-20 cm long, 0.8-2 cm wide, chartaceous, deciduous, bases rounded, abaxial surfaces pilose or glabrous, weakly cross veined, adaxial surfaces pilose.

leaves: sheaths persistent on the lower branch nodes;

auricles usually present;

fimbriae to 10 mm;

blades finely cross veined abaxially, acuminate, blades of the ultimate branchlets often smaller, crowded into flabellate clusters of 3-7 leaves.

open racemes or panicles;

disarticulation below and between the florets.

3-5.5 cm, usually somewhat reddish purple, with 5-8 florets.

3-7 cm, with 6-12 florets, basal floret occasionally sterile, laterally compressed.

1-2, shorter than the lowest lemmas;

lemmas to 2 cm, sometimes awned, awns about 4 mm;

anthers 3;

styles 3;

paleas 2-keeled, not exceeding the lemmas, x = 12.

leaves persistent to tardily deciduous;

sheaths 5.5-11 cm;

fimbriae 1-4.6 mm;

blades 0.8-1.4 cm.

leaves: sheaths persistent or deciduous, mostly glabrous, abaxial surfaces sparsely pilose towards the margins and apices, margins ciliate;

auricles usually present;

blades erect or becoming reflexed, narrowly triangular to strap-shaped, abaxial surfaces sparsely pilose;

leaves at tips of new shoots crowded into distinctive fan-shaped clusters or topknots, blades expanded as on the foliage leaves.

of 6-12 leaves;

blades 9-22.5 cm long, 1.4-2.8 cm wide, linear, linear-lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate.

branches usually shorter than 35 cm, erect, terete, with 2-5 compressed basal internodes, basal nodes not developing secondary branches.

complements of 1 primary branch and 0-2 subequal secondary branches on young culms, rebranching to produce to 40+ secondary branches on older culms.

= unknown.