Flora of North America species comparison

20–90 cm, pilose.

dark maroon at base; flowering stems 40–90 cm, much longer than leaves at maturity, 0.5–1 mm thick, sparingly pilose.

ligules shorter than wide;

blades 1.5–4 mm wide, pilose on both surfaces.

basal sheaths maroon, bladeless, pilose;

others grading from maroon to green on back, pale to chestnut brown-hyaline and usually red dotted on front, ciliate at apex;

blades flat, 2.5–9 mm wide, pilose on both surfaces, sparsely so adaxially, margins smooth or ciliate.

lateral spikes 8–18 × 3–5.5 mm, usually crowded;

terminal spike gynecandrous, at least 1/2 of flowers pistillate, 10–20(–25) mm.

peduncles of lateral spikes capillary, 10–20 mm, glabrous or pubescent;

peduncle of terminal spike erect, 3–5 mm;

proximal bracts hyaline, reduced to green awn or less often leaflike and 0.3–1.5 mm wide;

sheaths usually less than 3 mm (to 10 mm).

ascending, weakly 9–18-veined, obovate-circular, ± trigonous in cross section, 2–3 × 1.1–1.6 mm, not papillose, glabrous;

beak absent.

light green, usually red dotted, 2-ribbed and 5–7-veined, at least proximally and abaxially, loosely enveloping achene, ellipsoid, 2.5–5 × 1.3–2.5 mm, membranous, base acute, apex tapering to beak, glabrous;

beak bidentate to 1.5 mm, teeth 0.5 mm, ciliate between apical teeth.

1.6–2.1(–2.6) × 0.8–1.3 mm.

substipitate, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm.

scales ovate, 1.8–2.5 × 0.7–1.3 mm, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronate, shorter than perigynia.

scales hyaline suffused with chestnut with broad green midrib, ovate, shorter to nearly as long as mature perigynia, apex acute to cuspidate, awns less than 1 mm, often ciliate distally.

scales ovate to lanceolate, 2.1–5.2 mm, apex acuminate.

1.3–2.2 mm.

spikes 2–4, 1 per node, mostly near apex but not crowded, drooping at maturity, pistillate with 10–40 perigynia attached 1 mm apart, narrowly cylindric, 8–25 × 4–5 mm.

spike staminate, sessile or pedunculate, 10–30 × 1.4–3 (4) mm.

= 52.

= 44, 64.