Flora of North America species comparison

terete, finely white-mealy when young.

stiffly erect;

branchlets terete.

alternate, petiolate proximally, becoming sessile distally, crowded;

blade oblanceolate or proximal rhombic, 10–20(–30) × 3–15 mm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin entire to repand-denticulate, apex acute to obtuse, scurfy.

tardily deciduous, alternate or proximal-most subopposite, shortly petiolate;

blade gray green, oblong-ovate to elliptic or orbiculate, 8–30(–35) × 6–20 mm, margin entire or rarely dentate, apex rounded to retuse or obtuse.

in axillary glomerules, in short axillary spikes or terminal spikes.

yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm.

axillary, solitary or few and clustered below staminate.

in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate.

dimorphic: dark reddish brown, 1.5 mm wide, or black, slightly smaller;

radicle basal, horizontal.

brown, 2.4–2.8 mm.

bracteoles sessile, bordered by narrow horizontal wing or acutely angled, broadly turbinate or hemispheric, united except at minute apical tips, 6–12 mm, spongy and inflated at maturity, flattened at summit.

bracteoles sessile or substipitate, 4–5 × 5–9 mm, base broadly cuneate, margin sharply toothed, apical tooth subtended by 2–6 equal or smaller teeth, faces smooth or rarely tuberculate.