Flora of North America species comparison

polystichous, mostly spreading or excurved, often exceeding culms;

sheaths entire, abaxially smooth or sparsely hirtellous;

ligule absent;

blades filiform, to 0.5 mm wide, somewhat involute, abaxially glabrous or ascending-strigillose.

nearly distichous, mostly spreading, to 2/3 length of culms;

sheaths ciliate, sheath backs often pilose-hirsute;

ligule present, complete;

blades narrowly linear, 1.5–2.5 mm wide, flat or shallowly concave, margins scabrid, abaxial surface scattered-pilose, hirsute-ciliate at least proximally.

terminal;

spikelets sessile or subsessile in single capitate leafy-involucrate cluster;

scapes filiform;

involucral bracts leafy, setaceous, greatly overtopping inflorescence.

anthelae simple or compound, open, divaricately branched, mostly as broad as long;

scapes slender, 1 mm wide, distally slightly compressed;

proximalmost involucral bract exceeding or shorter than anthela.

greenish, cylindric to lanceoloid-cylindric, 5–10 mm;

fertile scales narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm, acute, glabrous, midrib strong, excurrent as cusp.

pale brown or red-brown, ovoid to lanceoloid, 5–6 mm;

fertile scales broadly ovate, 1.5–2 mm, acute- to obtuse-angled, midrib short-excurrent as mucro.

stamens 1;

styles 2-fid, slender, bulbous-based, smooth or papillate.

stamens 1–2;

styles 2-fid, flat, fimbriate.

pale, tumidly obovoid, 0.5–0.7 mm, cancellate, pits horizontally rectangular in 5–7 vertical rows per side.

whitened-iridescent to brown, lenticular or pyriform-obovoid, 1 mm, cancellate, each face with 5–12 vertical rows of transversely oriented rectangular pits, achene margins distally papillose.

= 20.

= 20.