Flora of North America species comparison

developing from the midculm nodes and above, occasionally also at the lower nodes, several to many branches per node, branchlets of the lower branches not thornlike.

to 20 per node, erect to spreading, the central branch slightly dominant, often becoming densely congested and forming tangled clusters of rhizomes, aborted shoots, and stunted roots, branchlets of the lower branches not thornlike.

leaves: sheaths glabrous to sparsely hispidulous;

ligules 0.5-1.5 mm, glabrous, truncate, entire;

auricles 0.5-1.5 mm, falcate, hardened, persistent;

fimbriae few, 0.5-1.5 mm, spreading;

blades 6-30 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, glabrous, abruptly acuminate.

leaves: sheaths glabrous;

ligules to 0.5 mm;

auricles absent;

fimbriae sometimes present;

blades 7-15 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, abaxial surfaces glaucous and slightly pubescent, adaxial surfaces dark green and glabrous.

leaves promptly deciduous, with dense, appressed, brown pubescence, lower sheaths broader than long, apices broader than the base of the blades;

auricles well developed, to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, equal, ovoid to falcate-spreading, dark;

fimbriae to 15 mm, dense, wavy, light;

blades 4-5 cm long, 5-6 cm wide, appressed to the culm, usually persistent, triangular, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces densely dark pubescent towards the base, basal margins ciliate or with stiff hairs;

ligules about 3 mm, shortly ciliate.

leaves 12-15 cm, narrowly triangular, tardily deciduous, initially light green, becoming reddish brown to stramineous, glabrous;

auricles and fimbriae developed;

blades 1-2 cm, initially appressed to the culm, initially antrorsely hispid on both surfaces, becoming glabrous.

12-35 mm, with 5-10 florets, always strongly grooved along the center, appearing 2-cleft.

30-40 mm, with up to 10 florets.

= 64.

= 72.