Flora of North America species comparison

dark maroon at base; flowering stems 25–80 cm, usually longer than leaves at maturity, 1–2 mm thick, glabous to pubescent.

(5–)20–80 cm.

basal sheaths maroon, bladeless, pubescent, sometimes glabrous, others grading from maroon to green on back, light brown-hyaline on front, dotted or streaked with dark red, pubescent distally;

blades flat, 3–7 mm wide, pilose, especially abaxially, sparsely so distally, margins ciliate.

sheath summits usually U-shaped, sometimes prolonged to 2.5(–4) mm beyond collar;

distal ligules 1–3(–5) mm;

blades 3–4(–5) per fertile culm, 10–20 cm × (1.5–)2–3(–5) mm.

peduncles of lateral spikes slender, 5–20 mm, shorter than spikes, pubescent;

peduncle of terminal spikes 5–40 mm, minutely scabrous;

proximal bracts nearly equaling but usually not exceeding inflorescences;

sheaths 15–25 mm;

blades 1.5–3 mm wide.

erect, dense, headlike, green to brown, (0.8–)1.5–2.2 cm × 7–20 mm;

proximal internode 1.5–5 mm; 2d internode 1–3.5 mm;

proximal 2–3 bracts leaflike, ascending to spreading, much longer than inflorescences, usually less than 1.8 mm wide, bases ± surrounding culms.

(5–)7–10(–14), individually distinct or indistinct, broadly ovoid to ovoid, (4.5–)7–10 × 4.5–7(–9) mm, base and apex truncate to acute.

green to dark olive-green, copiously red dotted, 2-ribbed with 6–10 almost equally prominent veins, loosely enveloping achenes, ellipsoid-ovoid, 3.5–5 × 1.7–2 mm, membranous, base acute or with short stipe, apex gradually tapered to beak, glabrous or less often pubescent;

beak minutely bidentate, 0.4–0.7 mm.

ascending to ascending-spreading, cream colored to light brown, conspicuously 0–9-veined abaxially, conspicuously 0–8-veined adaxially, ovate to lanceolate, plano-convex or flat, (2.8–)3.5–4(–4.8) × (0.8–)1–1.5(–1.8) mm, 0.35–0.45 mm thick, margin flat, including wing (0.1–)0.2(–0.5) mm wide, wing ciliate-serrulate on distal body;

beak gold to red-brown at tip, cylindric, unwinged, abaxial suture usually with conspicuous white margin, distance from beak tip to achene 1.9–2.5 mm, entire for at least 0.4–0.9 mm.

distinctly stipitate, 1.7–2.5 × 1–1.5 mm, stipe to 0.7 mm.

sessile or shortly stipitate, ovate to obovate, (1–)1.2–1.6 × 0.7–1 mm, 0.3–0.4 mm thick.

spikes 2–4, 1 per node, distal 2 usually overlapping terminal spike, others well separated, nodding or drooping at maturity, pistillate with 20–45 perigynia attached 1.5 mm apart, narrowly cylindric, 15–45 × 3–4.5 mm.

spike gynecandrous, 15–45 × 2–4.5 mm.

scales hyaline with broad green, red dotted midrib, elliptic-ovate, shorter than mature perigynia, apex acute to aristate or awned, awn less than 1 mm, ciliate.

scales gold to brown, with whitish, green, or tan midstripe, lanceolate to ovate, 2.4–4.3 mm, shorter, narrower than perigynia, margin sometimes white, 0.25 mm wide, apex acuminate to awned.

= 68.