Flora of North America species comparison

15-50 cm, slender, wiry;

internodes olive green to purplish, densely puberulent or glabrous;

fall phase spreading or decumbent, branching extensively from the lower and midculm nodes, producing numerous congested fascicles of reduced, flat or involute blades and reduced secondary panicles.

15-55 cm, slender, erect or radiating from a large tuft of predominantly basal leaves, lower internodes short, upper 3-5 internodes elongate;

nodes bearded with soft, spreading or retrorse hairs;

internodes glabrous;

fall phase branching extensively from the basal nodes, forming a dense cushion that overwinters.

4-7;

sheaths much shorter than the internodes, densely crisp-puberulent, velvety-puberulent, or glabrous, often ciliate along the margins;

ligules shorter than 0.5 mm;

blades 2-7 cm long (seldom longer), 2.5-8 mm wide (rarely wider), spreading, firm, flat or slightly involute, without prominently raised veins, not longitudinally wrinkled, densely puberulent or glabrous abaxially, glabrous, sparsely puberulent, or pubescent adaxially, bases subcordate, with papillose-based cilia, margins often whitish and scabridulous.

2-4;

sheaths usually longer than the internodes, pilose, hairs to 4 mm, retrorse or spreading;

ligules 0.2-1 mm, at low magnification appearing to be membranous and ciliate, at high magnification evidently of hairs that are coherent at the base;

blades 4-17 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, lanceolate, at least 3/4 as long as the basal blades, spreading to suberect, thin, soft, lax, yellowish-green, nearly glabrous or densely pilose on 1 or both surfaces, margins usually finely short-ciliate, at least on the basal 1/2, cilia not papillose-based.

1.5-2.6 mm, obovoid-pyriform, planoconvex in side view, puberulent, pubescent, or glabrous, attenuate basally, apices usually broadly rounded.

1.7-2.3 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, broadly ovate or oblong-obovoid, with papillose-based hairs, obtuse.

0.6-1.4 mm, thin, weakly-veined, attached about 0.2 mm below the upper glumes, clasping at the base;

upper glumes as long as or slightly shorter than the lower lemmas;

upper florets 1.4-2 mm, broadly ellipsoid, apices subacute, minutely puberulent.

1/4 - 1/3 as long as the spikelets, broadly deltoid;

upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, usually fully covering the upper florets;

upper florets 1.5-1.8 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, minutely umbonate.

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades 1.5-6 cm, ovate to lanceolate.

rosettes poorly differentiated;

blades ovate to lanceolate.

panicles 2-7 cm long, 2/3 to nearly as wide as long, with relatively few spikelets, exserted;

branches flexuous, spreading or reflexed, scabridulous to densely puberulent.

panicles 4-12 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, well-exserted;

secondary panicles more compact, usually not exserted above the crowded basal leaves;

rachises and branches wiry, spreading or deflexed, often pilose.

= 18.

= 18.