Flora of North America species comparison

2-70 cm, erect or ascending.

30-90 cm, erect or decumbent, forming distinct clumps;

nodes 2-3, glabrous or puberulent;

internodes glabrous or puberulent.

glabrous or with hairs;

auricles to 1 mm on the lower leaves;

ligules 0.4-1.0 mm, glabrous or ciliate, truncate, erose;

blades 10-20 cm long, 2-3 mm wide, scabridulous, glabrous or sparsely pilose, margins sometimes ciliate.

1-13 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, erect, usually ovoid, open, becoming dense, occasionally reduced to 1 or 2 spikelets;

branches shorter than the spikelets, ascending to erect, straight or almost so.

8-20 cm long, lax;

branches scabridulous, with 1-2 spikelets.

(11)14-20(23) mm, lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed;

florets 5-10, bases concealed at maturity;

rachilla internodes concealed at maturity.

20-32 mm, lanceolate, becoming cuneate, with 5-8 florets.

pilose or glabrous;

lower glumes 5-7 mm, 3-5-veined;

upper glumes 6.5-8 mm, 5-7-veined;

lemmas 6.5-11 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, lanceolate, chartaceous, antrorsely pilose to pubescent, or glabrous proximally or throughout, 7-9-veined, lateral veins prominently ribbed, rounded over the midvein, hyaline margins abruptly or bluntly angled, not inrolled at maturity, apices acute, bifid, teeth shorter than 1 mm;

awns 6-8 mm, usually arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices, straight to recurved at maturity;

anthers 0.6-1.5 mm.

glabrous, sometimes scabridulous on the veins;

lower glumes 6.5-10 mm, 1(3)-veined;

upper glumes 7.5-12 mm, 3-5-veined;

lemmas 10-13 mm, oblong to lanceolate, rounded over the midvein, 7-veined, glabrous or appressed-hairy, sometimes scabridulous, apices acute, entire or minutely bifid;

awns 4-8 mm, straight or slightly spreading, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices;

anthers 2.5-5.2 mm.

equaling or shorter than the paleas, thin, weakly inrolled to flat.

sheaths densely, often retrorsely, pilose;

upper sheaths pubescent or glabrous;

ligules 1-1.5 mm, hairy, obtuse, erose;

blades 2-19 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, abaxial surfaces glabrous or hairy, adaxial surfaces hairy.

= 28.

= 70.