Flora of North America species comparison

10–90(–135) cm.

reddish brown to dark maroon at base; flowering stems 30–60 cm, much longer than leaves at maturity, 1–1.3 mm thick, sparingly pubescent.

3–6 per culm;

sheaths tight, inner band hyaline, 1.8–2.5 cm, apex concave, glabrous;

ligules 0.6–2.5(–4.5) mm, rounded to ± acute;

blades plicate, 5–40 cm × 0.7–3.3(–3.8) mm, widest leaf 1–3.3(–3.8) mm wide.

basal sheaths reddish brown, bladeless, sparingly pubescent;

others grading from maroon to green on back, brown-hyaline, often red dotted and pubescent on front, especially near apex;

blades flat, 2.7–12 mm wide, usually pilose, more densely so adaxially, margins long-ciliate, except in rare glabrous form.

0.7–7.8 cm;

spikes (2–)3–8;

lateral spikes pistillate often with few staminate flowers proximally, 3–15.5 mm, sessile, staminate portion 7-flowered, to 8.2 mm, pistillate portion 3–32-flowered, 2.5–11 mm;

basal 2 spikes 1.7–42 mm apart;

terminal spike gynecandrous, 5–24 mm, staminate portion 2–17-flowered, 2–16.5 × 0.9–2 mm, pistillate portion 4–26-flowered, 2.6–9 × 4.9–9.1 mm.

peduncles of lateral spikes 40–100 mm (proximal spikes) or less than 10 mm (distal spikes), pilose;

peduncles of terminal spike to 25 mm, pilose or rarely glabrous;

proximal bracts equaling inflorescence or more often shorter;

sheaths 5–87 mm;

blades 1–3 mm wide.

spreading to reflexed, castaneous to dark brown, 2–14-veined abaxially, 0–12-veined adaxially over achene, lanceolate to ovate, (2.65–)2.9–4.75 × 0.8–2.1 mm, (1.7–)1.8–3.2(–3.6) times as long as wide;

beak (0.85–)0.95–2 mm, (0.4–)0.45–0.86 length of body, serrulate, teeth (0–)0.15–0.5 mm.

golden green, sometimes red dotted, 2-ribbed and finely 8–10-veined, substipitate, loosely enveloping achene, ellipsoid, 2.5–4.2 × 1–1.8 mm, membranous, apex tapering to beak, entire surface pubescent, often densely so, except in rare glabrous form;

beak minutely bidentate, 0.8–1.4 mm, ciliate between apical teeth.

ovate-lanceolate to rhombic-ovate, 1.3–2.1 × 0.8–1.55 mm.

sessile, 2–3.1 × 1–1.7 mm.

scales ovate, (1.4–)2.1–3.1 × 0.7–2.3 mm, apex acute to sometimes obtuse.

scales white-hyaline at base and along margins, suffused with reddish brown near apex, with broad green midrib, broadly ovate, nearly as long as perigynia, apex truncate or rounded with ciliate green awn 1 mm, otherwise glabrous.

scales ovate-lanceolate to ovate, 1.3–3.8 × 0.8–1.7 mm, base clavate, apex acute.

0.8–1.6(–2) mm.

spikes 2–4, 1 per node, well separated (proximal spikes) or crowded and overlapping staminate spike (distal spikes), erect, pistillate with 20–35 perigynia attached 1–1.5 mm apart, cylindric, 5–30 × 2–7 mm.

spike staminate, rarely gynecandrous, sessile or more commonly pedunculate, 10–27 × 2.2–6 mm.

= 58.

= 70, 72.