Flora of North America species comparison

often arching, sometimes spotted or streaked red-brown, quadrangular or broadly elliptic, sulcate or not, 0.5–25(–30) cm × 0.1–0.4 mm, soft.

subterete to greatly compressed, to 5 times as wide as thick, often with 2–12 ridges, 8–45 cm × (0.2–)0.5–1.8 mm, firm to hard, spongy.

distal leaf sheaths persistent or disintegrating, stramineous, green, red-brown, or spotted or streaked red-brown, membranous, translucent, apex obtuse or acute.

distal leaf sheaths persistent, not splitting, proximally red, distally green to stramineous, papery, apex usually red-brown, broadly obtuse to subtruncate, callose, tooth absent.

basal spikelets usually present, pistillate; often proliferous, ovoid, ellipsoid, or linear, clearly laterally compressed, 2.3–6.9 × 0.5–2 mm, apex acute, proximal scale empty, amplexicaulous, similar to floral scales (midribs sometimes more prominent and sometimes slightly prolonged beyond lamina);

subproximal scale with a flower;

floral scales clearly distichous, 3–9, 3–4 per mm of rachilla, yellowish, pale brown, or red-brown, spotted, streaked, or mottled red-brown, narrowly ovate to oblong, (1.5–)2–5 × 0.4–0.6(–1.2) mm, membranous, apex rounded, obtuse or rarely acute, midribs keeled.

ovoid, 4–8 × 2–4 mm, apex acute;

proximal scale clasping 3/4 of culm to amplexicaulous, entire;

subproximal scale empty or with flower;

floral scales spreading in fruit, 20–60, 6 per mm of rachilla, medium brown to very dark brown, sometimes stramineous or colorless, midrib region often paler, ovate, 2–3(–4) × 1–1.5 mm, apex acute to acuminate, the apical colorless hyaline region mostly longer than wide and 0.6–1.2 mm, in proximal part of spikelet 2-fid to shallowly cut, rarely entire, in distal part often entire, carinate in distal part of spikelet.

perianth bristles 3–7, incurved, colorless, white, or red-brown, shorter than or equaling achene;

spinules sparse, retrorse, sharply acute;

stamens 3;

anthers 1.4–2.2 mm;

styles 3-fid.

perianth bristles 0–5, stramineous, length variable, to equaling achene, obscurely to clearly retrorsely spinulose;

stamens 3;

anthers yellow- to orange-brown, 0.7–2 mm;

styles 3-fid or some 2-fid.

whitish or greenish, spotted dark green, obovoid, trigonous, angles prominent, 0.6–0.9 × 0.4–0.6 mm, apex constricted proximal to tubercle, smooth to finely cancellate at 10–20X.

falling with scales or some persistent, yellow-brown or dark brown, obovoid to obpyriform, nearly equilaterally to compressed-trigonous or usually some biconvex, angles evident or obscure, 0.8–1.1 × 0.6–0.8 mm, neck very short, finely rugulose and sometimes finely (or coarsely) cancellate at 10–20X with 14–20 blunt horizontal ridges in a vertical series.

pale to red-brown, pyramidal, trigonous, 0.2–0.3(–0.4) × 0.2–0.5 mm.

brown (to whitish), pyramidal, usually depressed, often rudimentary, 0.15–0.3 × 0.2–0.35 mm.