Flora of North America species comparison

50-140 cm, usually erect, occasionally geniculate below;

nodes 4-8, exposed or concealed, glabrous.

45-100 cm, erect or decumbent at the base;

nodes glabrous or almost so.

evenly distributed;

sheaths usually glabrous, occasionally pilose, often purplish;

auricles usually present, 0.5-3 mm, brown to black;

ligules 1-2(3) mm;

blades 4-16 mm wide, lax, usually deep glossy green, adaxial surfaces pilose or scabridulous.

evenly distributed over the lower 1/2 of the culms;

sheaths glabrous;

auricles usually present, to 1 mm;

ligules to 1 mm on the basal leaves, 1-3 mm on the flag leaves;

blades 2.5-6 mm wide, lax, abaxial surfaces smooth and glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous, with scattered 0.5-1 mm hairs, veins close together.

7-20 cm long, 4-7 cm wide, more or less erect, usually with 2 spikelets per node, rarely with 3 at some nodes;

internodes (3)4-8(10) mm long, (0.1)0.2-0.3(0.4) mm thick at the thinnest sections, flexuous, usually glabrous, sometimes scabrous or hirsute, usually with green lateral bands.

12-25 cm long, 2.5-6 cm wide including the awns, 10-15 mm wide excluding the awns, flexuous, usually nodding or pendent at maturity, with 1 spikelet per node;

internodes 11-17 mm long, 0.4-1 mm wide, glabrous, mostly smooth, scabrous on the edges.

10-18 mm, strongly divergent to patent at maturity, with (1)2-4(6) florets, lowest florets functional;

disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.

14-26 mm long, 6-8 mm wide, appressed to divergent, 1.5-2 times as long as the internodes, with 4-6 florets;

rachillas glabrous;

disarticulation above the glumes and beneath each floret.

usually vestigial, sometimes 1-3 mm long, about 0.1 mm wide, subulate, entire, with no evident veins, occasionally to 10(20) mm long including the undifferentiated awns and differing in length by more than 5 mm, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, setaceous, tapering from the base, usually glabrous, occasionally appressed-puberulent to strigose, sometimes scabrous, usually straight, rarely somewhat curving, margins firm;

lemmas 8-11 mm, usually glabrous, occasionally appressed-puberulent to strigose, especially near the margins and apices, awns (12)20-40(47) mm, usually straight, rarely somewhat curving;

paleas 7-11 mm, obtuse or truncate, occasionally emarginate;

anthers 2.5-5 mm.

narrowly lanceolate, margins about 0.2 mm wide, 3(5)-veined, the bases flat, evidently veined, margins hyaline, widest at about midlength, acute or acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 4 mm, straight;

lower glumes 5-9 mm;

upper glumes 8-10 mm;

lemmas 8-15 mm, scabrous, rounded on the back, awns 10-25 mm, arcuately diverging;

paleas as long as or longer than the lemmas, tapering, apices truncate, about 0.3 mm wide;

anthers 3-5 mm.

mid-June to early July.

= 28.

= 28.