Flora of North America species comparison

brown at base, densely covered with brown fibrillose remains of previous year’s leaves; flowering stems 30–90 cm, longer than leaves at maturity, 0.5–0.7 mm thick, glabrous but finely scabrous within inflorescence.

to 80 cm × 3.5 mm, scabrous abaxially.

sheaths glabrous, basal ones tinged with brown and all bearing blades, green to hyaline on back, white-hyaline on front;

blades flat, 2.5–4 mm wide, finely scabrous on adaxial surface and margins, glabrous on abaxial surface.

sheaths all with blades, fronts rugose, red-brown spotted, veinless, apex hyaline, colorless, fragile, convex, entire;

ligules rounded, 7 mm, free limb to 0.5 mm;

blades not epistomic, to 75 cm × 8 mm.

peduncles of lateral spikes slender, 20–60 mm, equaling or somewhat longer than spikes, finely scabrous;

peduncle of terminal spike 5–15 mm, scabrous;

proximal bracts equaling inflorescences or more often shorter;

sheaths 3–5 mm or rarely longer;

blades 1–1.5 mm wide.

densely spicate, cylindric, elongate, with 8–12 branches, 3–7 × 2 cm;

proximal internode to 15 mm.

shiny tan to golden green, 2-ribbed, but otherwise veinless, closely enveloping achene at maturity, ovoid-ellipsoid, 4.5–6.5 × 1.5–2 mm, membranous, base acute, apex abruptly contracted to beak, glabrous;

beak bidentate, narrowly tubular, nearly as long as body, finely scabrous on edge, teeth hyaline, 1 mm.

green with green veins, 3–5-veined abaxially, veinless adaxially, to 4.5 × 2 mm, base spongy on both sides, not distended proximally, rounded;

stipe to 0.3 mm;

beak to 1.8 mm, serrulate.

substipitate, 2–2.5 × 1.7–1.8 mm.

ovate, 2.2 × 1.4 mm;

stalk to 0.2 mm;

persistent style base cylindric.

spikes 4–5, 1 per node;

proximal spikes well separated, nodding or drooping at maturity, pistillate with 10–40 perigynia about 1 mm apart, cylindric, 10–35 × 8–10 mm;

distal spikes crowded near apex, sessile or nearly so, staminate or androgynous, linear, less than 20 mm.

spike staminate or rarely with a few perigynia at base, 10–20 × 1.5–2 mm.

scales pale hyaline tinged with chestnut, narrow midrib green, sometimes finely scabrous, ovate-oblong, shorter than mature perigynia, apex long-acuminate, glabrous.

hyaline.

= 42.