Flora of North America species comparison

15–120 cm;

vegetative culms few, inconspicuous, usually fewer than 15 leaves, not strikingly 3-ranked.

dark maroon at base; flowering stems 25–100 cm, as long as leaves at maturity or often longer, 0.5–1 mm thick, glabrous but scabrous within inflorescence.

sheaths adaxially white-hyaline, summits U-shaped or sometimes prolonged to 2 mm beyond collar and rounded, smooth;

distal ligules 2.2–3.5 mm;

blades 3–5 per fertile culm, 12–30 cm × 1.5–3.5 mm.

basal sheaths maroon, bladeless, glabrous or rarely minutely pubescent;

others grading from maroon to green on back, pale brown-hyaline or reddish brown on front, often red dotted, sometimes finely pubescent;

blades flat, 2–7 mm wide, glabrous on both surfaces, margins and abaxial midribs often finely scabrous.

open, brown, (1.3–)2.5–5(–6.5) cm × 5–18 mm;

proximal internode (3–)6–13(–23) mm; 2d internode 2–12 mm;

proximal bracts scalelike or bristlelike, shorter than inflorescences.

peduncles of lateral spikes slender, to 50 mm, usually shorter than spikes or only slightly longer, scabrous; of terminal spike 15–50 mm, finely scabrous;

proximal bracts longer, or more often, shorter than inflorescences;

sheaths 1–7 cm;

blades 1–3.5 mm wide.

(3–)4–7, 5–7 on larger culms, distant, distinct, ovoid to ellipsoid, 7–17(–24) × 4–8(–12) mm, base attenuate or rarely rounded, apex acute to rounded;

terminal spike usually with conspicuous staminate base.

(10–)15–40(–45) per spike, ascending-spreading, green or reddish brown, veinless or faintly and irregularly 1–5-veined adaxially, orbiculate or broadly ovate, plano-convex, (2.6–)3.4–4.8(–5.2) × (2–)2.3–3.2 mm, 0.5–0.6 mm thick, 1.2–1.8 times as long as wide, nearly leathery, margin flat, including wing 0.3–0.8 mm wide, ciliate-serrulate at least distally, smooth;

beak pale green or brown at tip, flat, ± ciliate-serrulate, abaxial suture with gold or reddish brown-hyaline margin, distance from beak tip to achene 1.5–2.4 mm.

green to olive-green, usually red dotted, prominently 2-ribbed, finely 12–20-veined, loosely enveloping achene, fusiform to lance-ovoid, 5–9.5 × 1.1–2.2 mm, membranous, base acute, apex tapering gradually to abruptly contracted beak, glabrous or short-pubescent;

beak bidentate 0.7–2 mm, including teeth to 1 mm.

orbiculate to broadly ovate, 1.5–2.2 × 1.3–1.8 mm, 0.5–0.6 mm thick.

stipitate, 1.9–2.5 × 1–1.5 mm, stipe 0.5–1.5 mm.

scales white-hyaline, tinged reddish brown, usually with whitish, pale gold, or green midstripe, broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 2.6–4.3 mm, as long as to 0.7–0.9 mm shorter than perignyium beaks, narrower than perigynia, margins thin, sometimes involute, apex mostly acute.

scales white-hyaline, sometimes tinged with pale brown or suffused with chestnut, with broad green midrib, finely red dotted, oblong, 2.8–6 mm, much shorter than mature perigynia, apex obtuse, acute or cuspidate, awn to 0.2 mm, glabrous, distal margin ciliate.

spikes 2–5, 1 per node, well separated, erect at anthesis, soon nodding, pistillate with 10–25 perigynia attached 2–9 mm apart, linear, 25–80 × 2–3 mm.

spike staminate or sometimes gynecandrous with a few pistillate flowers distally; 15–50 × 0.6–1.2 mm.

= 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 68.