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.

5-45 cm, arising from the bases of old depressed culms, compressed-keeled, developing branches below the lower leaf nodes;

internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes minutely 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.

longer than the internodes, keeled, keels scabridulous, not becoming papery or spirally coiled when old;

ligules 0.5-1.5 mm, membranous, truncate to obtuse, erose, without lateral lobes;

blades 1-15 cm long, 0.8-2 mm wide, flat to conduplicate, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, hirtellous adaxially, midveins thickened and whitish proximally.

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.

2-20 cm long, (0.2)2.5-6 cm wide, diffuse;

primary branches 0.4-6 cm long, about 0.1 mm thick, ascending, diverging 10-60° from the rachises, naked basally;

pedicels 0.2-7 mm, glabrous.

1.7-3.1 mm, occasionally with 2 florets.

1.3-2.1 mm, dark purplish to plumbeous, occasionally with 2 florets.

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, 0.4-1.3 mm, glabrous, 1-veined, apices scabrous, acute to obtuse, sometimes erose or notched, unawned;

lemmas 1.2-2 mm, oblong-elliptic, dark purplish to plumbeous, glabrous, faintly 3-veined, apices acute to obtuse, unawned;

paleas 1.3-2.1 mm, oblong-elliptic, glabrous, acute to obtuse;

anthers 0.6-0.9 mm, dark purple.

0.9-1.6 mm, narrowly ellipsoid, brown.

0.6-0.8 mm, ovoid, brownish.

= 40.

= 42.