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.

40-100 cm, erect, not conspicuously branched;

internodes mostly smooth, sometimes scabridulous 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.

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

ligules (1)3-12(15) mm, firmer basally than distally, obtuse to acute, often lacerate;

blades 12-35 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or involute, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, scabridulous or 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.

10-35 cm long, 2-5(12) cm wide, loosely contracted to open, purplish;

primary branches 0.4-10 cm, lax, capillary, usually appressed to ascending, occasionally diverging up to 80° from the rachises, naked basally;

pedicels 1-10 mm.

1.7-3.1 mm, occasionally with 2 florets.

3.5-5 mm, 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.

equal, 1-1.7(2) mm, exceeded by the florets, usually glabrous, sometimes mostly hirtellous but glabrous distally, 1-veined, obtuse to subacute, unawned;

lemmas 3.5-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, purplish, calluses hairy, hairs to 0.5 mm, lemma bodies scabridulous to scabrous, apices acuminate, awned, awns 10-22 mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies, flexuous;

paleas 3.5-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, scabridulous, acuminate;

anthers 1.7-2.3 mm, purplish.

0.9-1.6 mm, narrowly ellipsoid, brown.

2-3.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.

= 40.

= 40, 44.