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.

70-140 (160) cm, erect from the base, not conspicuously branched;

internodes mostly 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.

glabrous or puberulent, sheaths rounded near the base, rarely becoming fibrous at maturity, not becoming spirally coiled when old;

ligules 4-8(10) mm, membranous, firm, strongly decurrent, obtuse;

blades 35-100 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, usually involute, smooth abaxially, scabrous 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.

20-60(70) cm long, 15-30(40) cm wide, longer than wide, diffuse;

primary branches 2-20 cm, capillary, diverging 30-100° from the rachises, naked basally, lower branches with 5-20 spikelets;

pedicels 4-50 mm, longer than the spikelets, capillary, divergent, stiff or flexible.

1.7-3.1 mm, occasionally with 2 florets.

3-5 mm, mostly 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, (0.3)1-2 mm (excluding the awns), less than 1/2 as long as the lemmas, glabrous;

lower glumes 1-veined, awned, awns 0.5-10 mm;

upper glumes 1-veined (rarely 3-veined), acute to acuminate, often erose, awned, awns 2-25 mm;

lemmas 3-5 mm, lanceolate, calluses shortly pubescent, apices acuminate, with 2 setaceous teeth, teeth 1-5 mm, awned from between the teeth, awns 8-35 mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies;

paleas 2-4.5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate, veins usually extending into awns to 2 mm;

anthers 1.5-2 mm, purple.

0.9-1.6 mm, narrowly ellipsoid, brown.

2-2.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, brownish.

= 40.

= unknown.