Flora of North America species comparison

(10) 30-110 cm, round or basally compressed, tillering from the basal nodes, not branching from the aerial nodes, mostly glabrous, sometimes pilose basally;

internodes solid.

60-200;

cm, erect, compressed, unbranched;

internodes hollow.

sometimes with a pilose collar;

ligules 1-2 mm, truncate, erose;

blades (2)8-35 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, glabrous, strigose, or pilose.

pubescent;

ligules 0.5-1 mm, shortly ciliate;

blades 25-50 cm long, 2.8-5.5 mm wide, ascending to reflexed, adaxial surfaces usually sparsely pilose behind the ligules, otherwise both surfaces glabrous.

8-20 cm, with 2-15 subdigitate or racemose branches;

secondary panicles often hidden in the lowest leaf sheaths;

branches 2-19 cm, ascending to spreading at maturity.

to 53 cm, with 5-20 digitate branches;

secondary panicles not present in the lower sheaths;

branches 7-17 cm, steeply ascending but drooping at the apices.

4-12 mm, light brown to dark olive green, with 4-13 florets, often widely diverging at anthesis.

4.5-5 mm, imbricate, green to straw-colored, with 3-4 florets.

narrowly triangular to ovate, acute;

lower glumes 2.3-4.8 mm;

upper glumes 3.3-6 mm;

lemmas 3.5-5 mm, membranous, ovate to obovate, lateral veins glabrous or sericeous, hairs often restricted to the basal portion, sometimes also sericeous on the midvein and between the veins, apices obtuse to truncate, usually emarginate, unawned, sometimes mucronate;

paleas ciliate on the margins;

anthers 3, 0.3-1.6 mm.

ovate, acute;

lower glumes 1.3-2.6 mm;

upper glumes 2.2-3.7 mm;

lemmas 2.8-3.8 mm, lanceolate to ovate, chartaceous, lateral veins sericeous, apices acute to slightly obtuse, minutely emarginate, mucronate;

paleas ciliolate over the veins;

anthers 1, 0.4-0.6 mm.

1.5-2.3 mm long, 0.9-1 mm wide, strongly dorsally compressed.

0.9-1.8 mm long, 0.3-0.4 mm wide, triangular in cross section.

= 40, 60, 80.

= unknown.