Flora of North America species comparison

(40)60-150(180) cm, erect or decumbent;

nodes 4-10, mostly concealed by the leaf sheaths, glabrous.

30-130 cm, erect or geniculate, usually hairy on or below the nodes.

evenly distributed;

sheaths smooth or scabridulous, glabrous or hirsute, often reddish brown;

auricles 1.5-4 mm, brown or purplish black;

ligules to 1(2) mm, truncate, ciliolate;

blades (3)4-15(20) mm wide, usually firm, often ascending and somewhat involute, usually dull green, drying to grayish, adaxial surfaces usually smooth or scabridulous and glabrous, rarely sparsely hispid to villous.

evenly distributed;

sheaths glabrous;

auricles to 1.5 mm;

ligules 0.2-1.5 mm;

blades 10-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, flat, both surfaces scabrous, adaxial surfaces sometimes with hairs over the veins, hairs to 0.5 mm, veins not prominent, widely spaced.

6-30 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, usually nodding, sometimes pendent or almost erect, usually with 2(3) spikelets per node, occasionally to 5 at some nodes, rarely with 1 at some nodes but never throughout;

internodes (2)3-5(7) mm long, or 5-10 mm long towards the base, 0.2-0.35 mm thick at the thinnest sections, glabrous or with a few hairs below the spikelets.

5-20 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm wide including the awns, 5-8 mm wide excluding the awns, erect or arching, with 1 spikelet per node;

internodes 4.5-7 mm, edges scabrous or ciliate, both surfaces hairy below the spikelets.

12-20 mm excluding the awns, more or less divergent, with (2)3-5(7) florets, lowest florets functional;

disarticulation usually above the glumes and beneath each floret, rarely also below the glumes.

10-15(20) mm long, 2-5(7) mm wide, appressed to slightly divergent, with 2-6 florets;

rachillas scabridulous or pubescent, often more densely pubescent distally;

disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.

usually equal, occasionally subequal, 11-40 mm including the awns, the basal 0-1 mm subterete and slightly indurate, glume bodies 6-13 mm long, 0.5-1.6 mm wide, linear-lanceolate to subsetaceous, entire, widening or parallel-sided above the base, 3-5-veined, glabrous to scabrous-ciliate, rarely villous on the veins, margins firm, awns (5)10-25(27) mm, straight to outcurving;

lemmas 8-15 mm, glabrous, scabrous, hispid, or uniformly villous with the hairs generally appressed, awns (10)15-40(50) mm, moderately to strongly outcurving, often contorted at the spike bases;

paleas 7-13 mm, acute, usually bidentate;

anthers 2-3.5 mm.

equal to unequal, 0.6-1 mm wide, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, usually green, flat or weakly keeled, keels eccentric, adaxial surfaces hairy, hairs often inconspicuous, hyaline margins sometimes widest distally, narrowing abruptly to the acute to acuminate apices;

lower glumes 8-11 mm, 3-veined, usually awned, awns to 3 mm;

upper glumes 10-13 mm, 3-5-veined, sometimes awn-tipped, awns to 0.3 mm;

lemmas 9-13 mm, glabrous, smooth to somewhat scabridulous distally, rounded on the back proximally, awned, awns 7-20 mm, straight or flexuous;

paleas subequal to the lemmas, keels finely and densely ciliate over most of their length, straight or slightly outwardly curved, tapering to the apices, apices about 0.2 mm wide;

anthers 2-3 mm.

May to July.

StH.

= 28, rarely 42.

= 28.