Flora of North America species comparison

5-30 cm tall, 0.4-1 mm thick, decumbent, geniculate, or erect;

internodes usually nodulose (occasionally smooth) for most of their length, puberulent or nodulose below the nodes.

40-80 cm, stiffly erect from the base, not conspicuously branched;

internodes glabrous, sometimes puberulent below the nodes.

shorter or longer than the internodes, glabrous;

ligules 0.8-3 mm, membranous, acute to truncate, erose;

blades 0.4-6.5 cm long, 0.5-4.2 mm wide, flat or involute, straight or arcuate-spreading, glabrous abaxially, hirtellous adaxially.

shorter than the internodes, smooth or scabridulous, basal sheaths rounded, not becoming spirally coiled when old;

ligules (2)4-7(9) mm, firmer near the base, obtuse, lacerate;

blades 8-35 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat or involute, filiform, glabrous abaxially, densely hirtellous adaxially.

1-15 cm long, 0.1-1.7 cm wide, exserted, narrow or spikelike, rachises usually concealed by the branches;

primary branches 0.4-5 cm, usually closely appressed at maturity, rarely diverging up to 20° from the rachises;

pedicels 0.2-2 mm, setulose.

10-20(30) cm long, 4-15 cm wide, about as wide as long, loosely contracted to open but not diffuse;

primary branches 1.4-10 cm, capillary, diverging up to 80° from the rachises, scabridulous, naked basally, lower branches with 5-15(20) spikelets;

pedicels 3-25 mm, longer than the spikelets, capillary, stiff, or flexuous.

1.7-3.1 mm, occasionally with 2 florets.

3.5-5 mm, stramineous or brownish to purplish.

subequal, 0.6-2 mm, 1/3– 1/2 as long as the lemmas, green, 1(2)-veined, acute, sometimes mucronate, mucros less than 0.2 mm;

lemmas 1.7-2.6(3.1) mm, lanceolate, dark greenish, plumbeous, or mottled, glabrous, apices scabridulous, acute to acuminate, sometimes mucronate, mucros to 0.5 mm;

paleas 1.2-2.4(2.9) mm, lanceolate, acute;

anthers 0.9-1.6 mm, yellow to purplish.

subequal, 1-3 mm, shorter than the florets, hyaline, mostly sparsely hirtellous, apices glabrous, 1-veined (sometimes faintly so), acute, occasionally mucronate, mucros shorter than 0.7 mm;

lemmas 3.5-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, calluses hairy, hairs to 0.5 mm, lemma bodies glabrous and smooth, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 0.5-4(6) mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies;

paleas 3.5-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, mostly glabrous;

anthers 1.1-2 mm, yellowish to purplish.

0.9-1.6 mm, narrowly ellipsoid, brown.

2-2.4 mm, fusiform, brownish.

= 40.

= 20.