Flora of North America species comparison

(10)50-140 cm, stout, stiffly erect, branched from the middle and lower nodes;

lower nodes sericeous;

lower internodes sericeous, hairs papillose-based, upper internodes sometimes glabrous.

slender, wiry, glabrous, often with minute purple streaks and dots, ascending from a decumbent base, often branching extensively at the base and rooting at the lower nodes.

rounded, glabrous or sparsely to densely hispid, hairs not fragile and prickly, not causing skin irritation, margins ciliate;

ligules 1-3 mm;

blades 3-60 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, flat or involute, ascending, adaxial surfaces densely hirsute basally, less densely so elsewhere, bases attenuate, apices acute.

usually shorter than the internodes, glabrous, margins short-ciliate;

ligules usually less than 0.3 mm, membranous, erose, ciliate;

blades 4-15 cm long (rarely longer), 2-3 mm wide, flat or slightly involute, glabrous on both surfaces, margins scabridulous, especially towards the apices, bases narrowed.

(4)15-40 cm long, (3)10-25 cm wide, about 1/3 – 1/2 as long as the plants, open, breaking at the base of the peduncles at maturity and dispersed as tumbleweeds, secondary branching mostly confined to the distal 1/3 of the primary branches;

rachises densely hispid or glabrous;

lower primary branches in whorls of 4-7, stiffly spreading, naked on the lower 1/2;

pedicels 3-20 mm, appressed.

4-17 cm, 1/2 to nearly as wide as long;

branches few, capillary, ascending or spreading, scabridulous, with a few spikelets distally;

pedicels 0.5-10 mm.

2-3 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, glabrous.

3.2-4 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, tuberculate, hispid, faintly veined, acute or acuminate at the apices.

1-1.6 mm, 5-veined, acuminate;

upper glumes and lower lemmas similar, 2-2.8 mm, 7-9-veined, exceeding the upper florets by about 0.3 mm;

lower florets sterile;

lower paleas 1.4-2.2 mm;

upper florets 1.5-1.9 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, smooth, chestnut brown at maturity.

usually less than 1 mm, obtuse or acute;

upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, distinctly tuberculate, hispid, with stiff hairs arising from wartlike bases;

upper florets 2.7-3.2 mm long, 1.3-1.6 mm wide, obovoid or ellipsoid, nearly smooth, minutely papillose, or cross-rugulose, subacute to acute.

= 36.

= unknown.