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.

7–55 cm, scabrous distally;

bases (remnants of old leaves) fibrous.

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.

blades pale to dark green, 0.7–3.6 mm wide, herbaceous, papillose to scabrous abaxially, papillose to scabrous adaxially, blades of distal cauline leaves poorly developed.

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.

with both staminate and pistillate spikes;

peduncles of staminate spikes 0.7–13 mm;

proximal nonbasal bracts leaflike, shorter than inflorescences.

proximal pistillate spikes 1–3 (basal spikes 0);

cauline spikes overlapping or somewhat separated, with (2–)3–13 perigynia; staminate spikes 8–22.5 × 1.4–4.6 mm.

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.

yellowish green to pale olive, veinless, obovoid, 2.7–4.6 × 1.2–1.7 mm, as long as wide;

beak straight, pale green to olive, occasionally with reddish brown tinge near apex, 0.9–1.6 mm, weakly ciliate-serrulate, apical teeth 0.1–0.6 mm.

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

dark brown, obovoid to globose, obtusely trigonous in cross section, 1.3–2.2 × 0.9–1.6 mm.

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.

pistillate scales pale or usually dark reddish brown, with narrow white margins, ovate to lanceolate, 2.7–4.3 × 0.8–2.4 mm, apex acute to long-acuminate; staminate scales obovate to lanceolate, 3.7–6.1 × 1–1.4 mm, obtuse to acute or acuminate.

1.9–4.6 mm.

3.