Flora of North America species comparison

40-130 cm, to 1 mm thick at the nodes, unbranched, leafy for 50% of their height.

35-150 cm, simple or branched.

glabrous;

collars glabrous;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm, entire;

blades (8)15-35(40) cm long, 3-8(11) mm wide, linear-lanceolate, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely pilose adaxially.

cauline;

ligules membranous, ciliate;

blades not pseudopetiolate, flat.

(7)12-35(47) cm, contracted, erect;

branches ascending to appressed;

axils of panicle branches glabrous;

pedicels 0.5-2.5 mm.

open or contracted, sometimes becoming racemose distally;

disarticulation above the glumes and between the florets.

4-9 mm long, 2-6 mm wide, with (2)3-5(7) florets, lower 1(2) florets sterile, fertile florets divergent to 45°.

4-50 mm, laterally compressed, with 2-many florets, lower 1-4 florets sterile.

2, subequal, shorter than the spikelets, glabrous, (2)3-9-veined, acute to acuminate;

lemmas glabrous, 3-15-veined, compressed-keeled, keels serrate or ciliate, apices acuminate to acute, entire (rarely bifid);

paleas glabrous, gibbous basally, 2-keeled, keels winged, wings glabrous, scabrous, or pilose;

lodicules 2, fleshy, cuneate, 2-4-veined, lobed-truncate;

anthers 1;

ovaries glabrous;

styles 2;

style branches 2, plumose, reddish-purple at anthesis.

1.3-3 mm, (1)3-5-veined;

upper glumes 1.3-2.5 mm, 3-5-veined;

calluses glabrous;

fertile lemmas 2.9-4.5 mm, straight, 3-7-veined, keels not winged, apices scabridulous;

paleas 2.3-3 mm;

anthers 1.3-1.5 mm, the length invariant within a spikelet.

1.9-2.2 mm, exposed at maturity.

1.9-5 mm, laterally compressed, brown to reddish-black or black, x = 12.

= 24.