Flora of North America species comparison

18-75 cm, usually more than 1 mm thick, occasionally delicate, erect or ascending;

nodes glabrous;

internodes glabrous;

fall phase with decumbent culms, branches arising from the lower and midculm nodes, rebranching 2-3 times, with small blades and secondary panicles compared to those on the culms, secondary panicles with 8-10 spikelets, partially included at maturity.

20-100 cm, decumbent to erect, sometimes geniculate;

nodes usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely pilose or densely bearded with retrorse hairs;

internodes often purplish or olive green, lowest internodes usually glabrous, varying to sparsely pubescent;

fall phase usually branching freely, especially from the nodes above the middle, ultimately forming dense, reclining fascicles of divergent branchlets with numerous reduced, thin, often involute blades, secondary panicles often reduced, with few spikelets.

3-5;

sheaths shorter than the internodes, lower sheaths pubescent, upper sheaths glabrous, margins of all sheaths sparsely ciliate;

ligules about 0.5 mm, of hairs;

blades 5-11 cm long, 5-13 mm wide, thin, spreading to erect, usually glabrous, rarely pubescent abaxially, always glabrous adaxially, bases truncate to cordate, ciliate on the margins, blades of the flag leaves erect or ascending.

4-7;

sheaths usually shorter than the internodes, usually glabrous, occasionally the lower sheaths sparsely to densely soft-pubescent, sheaths of the uppermost leaves sometimes with whitish glandular spots between the prominent veins, margins of all sheaths glabrous or ciliate;

ligules absent or shorter than 1 mm, of hairs;

blades 3.5-14 cm long, 5-14 mm wide, usually thin, distant, spreading to reflexed or (occasionally) ascending, yellow-green to purplish, usually glabrous on both surfaces or (at least the lower blades) more or less densely and softly pubescent, bases constricted (in narrow-bladed subspecies) or narrowly subcordate (in wide-bladed subspecies), margins glabrous or ciliate basally, glabrous distally, blades of the flag leaves usually spreading.

2-2.2 mm long, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, ellipsoid, usually reddish, shortly pubescent, subacute.

1.5-2.7 mm, usually ellipsoid or obovoid, green or purplish (at least at the base), glabrous or (less commonly) sparsely pubescent or puberulent, often prominently veined, obtuse to acute to beaked.

0.5-1 mm, triangular-ovate;

lower florets sterile;

upper florets slightly exceeding the upper glumes and lower lemmas, subacute.

usually less than 1/3 as long as the spikelets, obtuse to acute;

upper glumes usually slightly shorter than or as long as the lower lemmas and upper florets (occasionally extending beyond the floret);

lower florets sterile;

upper florets 1.3-2 mm long, usually less than 1 mm wide, ellipsoid, subacute to obtuse.

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades 2-4 cm, pubescent, reddish.

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades ovate to lanceolate.

panicles 5-11 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, ovoid, long-exserted, with 40-220 spikelets.

panicles 3-12 cm, long-exserted, usually with many spikelets;

branches wiry, mostly spreading or ascending, usually glabrous, sometimes scabridulous.

= 18.