Flora of North America species comparison

30-130 cm, terete to slightly compressed.

8-100 cm tall, about 1 mm thick, erect to decumbent, simple to profusely branched;

nodes sparsely to densely pilose.

laterally compressed, glabrous or sparsely to densely pilose or villous, especially at the summit;

ligules less than 0.5 mm, membranous, erose, often brownish;

blades 10-50 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, erect, adaxial surfaces pilose at least basally, glabrous or pilose abaxially.

often crowded basally;

sheaths rounded, usually longer than the internodes, hispid, hairs papillose-based, to 5 mm;

ligules 0.5-1.5 mm;

blades 3-30 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, linear, ascending to erect, flat, hirsute to sparsely pilose, greenish or purplish, bases truncate to subcordate and ciliate on the margins, apices acute.

10-40 cm, 1/4 - 2/3 as wide as long, well-exserted at anthesis;

branches relatively few, stiffly spreading or ascending; ultimate branchlets 1-sided;

pedicels 0.1-3 mm, scabridulous to scabrous, appressed.

7-27 cm long, 4-24 cm wide, 1/4 - 1/3 as long as the plants, diffuse, usually exserted at anthesis, not breaking at the base of the peduncles to become a tumbleweed;

rachises glabrous or sparsely pilose basally;

primary branches spreading, secondary branches and pedicels confined to the distal 2/3 secondary branches diverging to appressed, with 1-4 spikelets;

pedicels 3-15 mm, spreading to appressed, scabrous or hirsute;

pulvini glabrous or pilose.

2.3-3.9 mm, narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid, usually subsessile, usually pale to yellowish-green, glabrous, often falcate and gaping at the apices, rarely lanceolate, densely crowded on short, appressed branchlets, set obliquely on short pedicels.

1.4-2.4 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide, usually green, glabrous.

A-A as long as the spikelets, 3-veined, keels scabrous, apices acute;

upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, keeled, beaked, usually gaping at the apices;

lower florets sterile;

lower paleas subequal to the lower lemmas;

upper florets 1.5-2.2 mm long, about 1 mm wide, 2/5 – 3/4 as long as the spikelets, apices with a tuft of minute, thick hairs;

upper lemmas thick, stiff, clasping the upper paleas throughout their length.

0.5-0.9 mm, usually less than 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-4-veined, truncate to acuminate;

upper glumes 1.6-2 mm, 7-veined, veins not prominent;

lower lemmas 1.6-1.9 mm, 7-9-veined, veins not prominent;

lower paleas absent;

lower florets sterile;

upper florets 1.5-1.7 mm long, about 0.4 mm wide, often dark brown, sometimes disarticulating, apices minutely papillose.

= 18, 36.

= 18.