Flora of North America species comparison

8–27 cm, scabrous distally;

bases (remnants of old leaves) strongly fibrous.

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.

blades green, greatly exceeding culms, 1.4–4 mm wide, herbaceous, papillose to scabrous abaxially, papillose to scabrous adaxially.

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.

with both staminate and pistillate spikes;

peduncles of staminate spikes 0.3–0.8 mm;

proximal cauline bracts leaflike, usually 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.

proximal pistillate spikes 2–3 (basal spikes 0);

cauline spikes overlapping, proximal 2 separated by less than 7 mm, with 6–15 perigynia; staminate spikes 5.3–10 × 1.1–2.3 mm.

pale green, veinless, ellipsoid, 2.8–3.6 × 1–1.3 mm, longer than wide;

beak straight, pale green, 0.7–1 mm, weakly ciliate-serrulate, apical teeth 0.1–0.4 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.

brown, ellipsoid, obtusely trigonous in cross section, 1.4–2 × 0.9–1.2 mm.

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

pistillate scales pale to, usually, dark reddish brown to purplish brown, with similarly colored or narrow white margins, ovate to lanceolate, 2.9–3.7 × 1.2–2 mm, equaling or exceeding perigynia, apex acute to acuminate or cuspidate; staminate scales ovate, 3–4.3 × 1–1.8 mm, apex obtuse to acute or acuminate.

1.4–2.6 mm.

3.

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.

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.

= 36.