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.

30–100 cm;

vegetative culms with numerous leaves spaced evenly along distal 1/2.

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 adaxially green-veined nearly to collar, with V-shaped hyaline band extending 4–20 mm proximal to collar;

somewhat loose, expanded near summit, ± wing-angled, adaxially firm, summits truncate to U-shaped, prolonged beyond collar;

distal ligules 4–10 mm;

blades 4–6 per fertile culm, 13–40 cm × 3–7.5 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.

dense or proximally open, brown, 2–4(–4.5) cm × 8–15 mm;

proximal internode 2–6 mm; 2d internode 2–4 mm;

proximal bracts scalelike with bristle tip to 1(–8) cm.

6–15, usually widely spaced, globose, 4–8 × 4–8 mm, base rounded to tapered, apex rounded.

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.

spreading to ascending, with beak and distal body of perigynium spreading or recurrent at 80º angle or greater, pale green to pale brown, conspicuously 3–6-veined abaxially, conspicuously 2–6-veined adaxially, ovate to elliptic, plano-convex, 2–3.5 times as long as wide, 2.7–4 × 1–1.7 mm, 0.3–0.4 mm thick, margin flat, including wing 0.1–0.2 mm wide, abruptly narrowed proximally, not extending to base;

beak tip usually not colored, flat, ciliate-serrulate, distance from beak tip to achene 1.5–1.8 mm.

substipitate, 2–2.5 × 1.7–1.8 mm.

oblong-ovate, 1.2–1.5 × 0.6–0.8 mm, 0.3–0.4 mm thick.

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.

scales white-hyaline or pale brown with green to brown midstripe not reaching tip, lanceolate, 1.6–2.3 mm, 1/2 length of and narrower than perigynia, hidden by perignyium beaks, apex acute or ultimate apex often rounded to retuse.

= 42.

= 70.