Flora of North America species comparison

15-45(65) cm, erect or decumbent, sometimes with crateriform glands below the nodes.

15-40(50) cm, erect, stiff, hard.

glabrous, occasionally glandular, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm;

ligules 0.4-0.8 mm, ciliate;

blades (1)5-20 cm long, (1)3-5(10) mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes glandular, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, occasionally also hairy.

hairy at the apices, hairs to 2 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm, membranous, ciliate;

blades 2-15 cm long, (1)2-4 mm wide, involute, arcuate, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, apices sharply pointed.

(3)5-16(20) cm long, 2-8.5 cm wide, oblong to ovate, condensed to open;

primary branches 0.4-5 cm, appressed or diverging 20-80° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or hairy;

pedicels 0.2-3 mm, stout, straight, stiff, usually divergent, occasionally appressed.

terminal, 6-20(24) cm long, 2-8(12) cm wide, ovate, open or contracted;

primary branches 1-8(15) cm, appressed or diverging up to 50° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or not;

pedicels 0-8 mm, appressed, lower pedicels on each branch shorter than 1 mm.

6-20 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, plumbeous, greenish, with 10-40 florets;

disarticulation below the florets, each floret falling as a unit, rachillas persistent.

8-14 mm long, 1.4-3 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, stramineous with a reddish-purple tinge, with 5-10 florets;

disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.

broadly ovate to lanceolate, membranous, usually glandular;

lower glumes 1.2-2 mm, usually 1-veined;

upper glumes 1.2-2.6 mm, often 3-veined;

lemmas 2-2.8 mm, broadly ovate, membranous, keels with 1-3 crateriform glands, apices obtuse to acute;

paleas 1.2-2.1 mm, hyaline, keels scabrous, sometimes also ciliate, cilia to 0.3 mm, apices obtuse to acute;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.5 mm, yellow.

unequal, chartaceous;

lower glumes 2.4-3.6 mm;

upper glumes 3-4.5 mm, sometimes 3-veined;

lemmas 3.8-4.5 mm, ovate, leathery, 3(4, 5)-veined, lateral veins evident, greenish, upper margins hyaline, apices acute to obtuse, usually erose;

paleas 3.8-4.5 mm, membranous, keels scabridulous, apices obtuse to truncate;

anthers 3, 2-2.4 mm, purplish to yellowish.

0.5-0.7 mm, globose to broadly ellipsoid, smooth to faintly striate, not grooved, reddish-brown or translucent.

1.6-2 mm, ellipsoid, dorsally flattened, with a shallow adaxial groove, striate, reddish-brown.

= 20.

= 40.