Flora of North America species comparison

5-45 cm, slender, erect or spreading;

from a dense tuft of predominantly basal leaves, lower internodes short, upper 3-5 internodes elongate;

nodes glabrous or bearded;

internodes glabrous or pilose;

fall phase with spreading culms and branches arising from near the bases forming a dense, flat tuft.

45-110 cm, nearly erect;

nodes glabrous or the lower nodes slightly bearded;

internodes glabrous or sparsely pubescent;

fall phase branching from the mid-culm nodes, branches nearly erect, scarcely rebranching, blades and secondary panicles only slightly reduced.

2-4;

lower cauline sheaths longer than the internodes, mostly glabrous or pilose with ascending hairs, margins finely ciliate;

ligules 0.2-2 mm, at low magnification appearing to be membranous and ciliate, at high magnification evidently of hairs that are coherent at the base;

blades 1.5-6 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, lanceolate, glabrous or softly pilose, margins with prominent papillose-based cilia, at least basally.

4-6, often with a transitional leaf above the basal rosette;

sheaths not overlapping, glabrous or softly villous basally, margins ciliate, collars pubescent;

ligules 0.4-0.7 mm, membranous, ciliate, cilia longer than the membranous portion;

blades 3.7-7 times longer than wide, 15-40 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, with 11-13 major veins and 40-120 minor veins, bases cordate-clasping, with papillose-based cilia.

1.1-2.1 mm, obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, glabrous or pubescent, hairs not papillose-based.

2.9-3.9 mm long, 1.6-2 mm wide, ellipsoid, sparsely pubescent.

1/3 - 1/2 as long as the spikelets, acute to obtuse;

upper florets 0.8-1.7 mm, ellipsoid, subacute.

1/3 – 1/2 as long as the spikelets, narrowly triangular;

upper glumes and lower lemmas slightly shorter than the spikelets, often red-tinged basally and apically;

lower florets staminate, anthers exserted prior to those of the upper florets;

upper florets pointed, apiculate, upper lemmas with a minute fringe of hairs.

rosettes poorly differentiated;

blades 1-5 cm, lanceolate, grading into the cauline blades.

rosettes well-differentiated;

sheaths pubescent;

blades ovate to lanceolate, dark green.

panicles short- to long-exserted;

rachises and branches often pilose.

panicles 7-15 cm long, 4-12 cm wide, 1.5-2 times as long as wide, with 20-80 spikelets, eventually at least partially exserted;

branches stiff, ascending to spreading.

= 18, 36.