Flora of North America species comparison

dark maroon at base; flowering stems 0.5–1 mm thick, 30–80 cm, longer than leaves at maturity, glabrous but scabrous on angles within inflorescence.

45–90 cm;

vegetative culms few, inconspiculous, usually fewer than 12 leaves, not strikingly 3-ranked.

basal sheaths maroon, bladeless, pubescent, sometimes glabrous, others grading from marooon to green on back, white-hyaline, red dotted, and pilose on front;

blades flat, 3–7 mm wide, glabrous on adaxial surface, pilose on abaxial surface and margins.

sheaths glabrous, individually indistinct Y-shaped hyaline band reaching 0–8 mm below the collar, summit U-shaped or truncate, extending 0–2 mm beyond collar, smooth;

distal ligules 2–4 mm;

blades 3–6 per fertile culm, 2.5–25 cm × 1.8–3.2(–4) mm.

;

peduncles of lateral spikes slender, to 10 cm, usually much longer than spikes, pubescent; of terminal spikes 25–50 mm, pubescent;

proximal bracts nearly equaling but usually not exceeding inflorescences;

sheaths 35–85 mm;

blades 2.5–4.5 mm wide.

open to congested, erect to nodding, pale or golden brown, 2–4.5 cm × 7.5–19 mm;

proximal internode 3.5–12 mm; 2d internode 3–10 mm;

proximal bracts scalelike or often with bristle tips shorter than or equaling inflorescences.

3–8, distant, distinct, globose to ovoid or conic, 8–14 × 4.5–9.5 mm, base rounded to acute, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded.

green, copiously red dotted, 2-ribbed with 7–12 fine veins on each face, loosely enveloping achene, ovoid-ellipsoid, 3.5–5 × 1.7–2 mm, membranous, base with short stipe, apex narrowing to abrupt beak, glabrous;

beak minutely bidentate, less than 0.5 mm.

15–80 on larger spikes, loosely ascending, light green, yellow-brown, or copper-brown, green or brown winged, inconspicuously 0–3(–5)-veined adaxially, 0–8-veined abaxially, 1–2 veins in winged margin, broadly elliptic to ovate, flat or concavo-convex except over achene, (4.2–)4.6–6.7(–7.1 in larger perigynia) × 2.5–4 mm, 0.5–0.7 mm thick, herbaceous, ± opaque, with achene not visible through adaxial face, margin flat, including wing 0.6–1.1 mm wide smooth;

beak tip, strongly flattened, 2–2.8 mm, serrulate-margined to apex, abaxial suture pale or copper-brown, distance from beak tip to achene 2.6–4.2 mm.

substipitate, 2–2.5 × 1.4–1.5 mm.

elliptic to ± orbiculate, 1.6–2.2 × 1.2–1.6 mm, 0.5–0.7 mm thick, apiculum to 0.4–1.1 mm.

spikes 2–4, 1 per node, well separated, drooping at maturity, pistillate except for 1 or 2 basal staminate flowers in each, with 8–25 perigynia per spike attached 1 mm apart, cylindric, 15–25 × 4–6 mm.

spike gynecandrous, 15–30 × 5–6 mm in distal pistillate portion, 1.5–2 mm wide in proximal staminate portion.

scales pale hyaline tinged with chestnut brown, broad green midrib red dotted, ovate, shorter than mature perigynia, apex acute to cuspidate, awn less than 1 mm, glabrous.

scales pale yellowish brown or occasionally copper-brown tinged, with narrow yellow-brown midstripe, lanceolate or lance-ovate, 3.7–4.4 mm, reaching base to middle of perignyium beaks, margin whitish to brownish hyaline, apex membranaceous, curled, acuminate or awned to 0.7 mm.

scales acuminate-awned.

(1.8–)2.2–3.6 mm.

=50, 52, 54.