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 70 cm × 1.5 mm, scabrous.

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 usually all with blades, proximal 2–3 to 10 cm with reduced blades, green, fronts of proximal sheaths herbaceous, prominently veined, not splitting, apex truncate, fronts of distal sheaths hyaline, indistinctly veined with linear veins, smooth, apex colorless, thickened concave, entire;

ligules obtuse, 1.5 mm, free limb to 0.5 mm;

blades not clustered at base, not epistomic, to 60 cm × 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.

very condensed, ovoid, with 5–10 individually indistinguishable branches, 2.5 × 1.5 cm;

proximal internode not visible, not more than 3 mm;

proximal bracts scalelike, inconspicuous.

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.

pale brown, 15-veined abaxially, 7–12-veined adaxially, to 4.5 × 2 mm, base distended only slightly proximally, cordate;

stipe to 0.2 mm;

beak to 2 mm, smooth or subserrulate, apical teeth to 0.3 mm.

substipitate, 2–2.5 × 1.7–1.8 mm.

ovate, to 2 × 1.5 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, brown, subequal to perigynia, acute.

= 42.