Flora of North America species comparison

15-130 cm, slender to stout, not woody, erect to decumbent, straight to zigzag, simple to profusely branched;

nodes sparsely to densely pilose.

30-150 cm tall, 2-4 mm thick, erect or spreading from a geniculate, non-cormous base, not succulent, glabrous throughout.

rounded, hirsute or hispid, hairs papillose-based;

ligules membranous, ciliate, cilia 0.5-1.5 mm;

blades 5-40 cm long, 3-18 mm wide, linear, spreading.

shorter or longer than the internodes, rounded, often with minute purple streaks, glabrous, margins shortly ciliate;

ligules to 0.8 mm;

blades 5-28 cm long, 4-14 mm wide, linear, more than 10 times longer than wide, thin, flat, glabrous on both surfaces or sparingly pilose adaxially, bases scabridulous near the margins, prominently veined.

13-50 cm long, 7-24 cm wide, usually more than 1/2 as long as the plants, included at the base or exserted at maturity, disarticulating at the base of the peduncles at maturity and becoming a tumbleweed;

branches spreading;

pedicels 0.5-2.8 mm, scabrous, pilose.

12-30 cm long, 9-20 cm wide, usually 1-1.3 times longer than wide, diffuse;

primary branches 8-15 cm, alternate, divergent, slender, scabridulous, much branched, branches confined to the distal 2/3, secondary branches spreading, spikelets confined to the distal 1/2 of the branches;

pedicels 0.5-6 mm.

1.9-4 mm, ellipsoid to lanceoloid, often red-purple, glabrous.

1.8-2.7 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, ellipsoid, dark green, often purple-tinged, usually glabrous, acute to acuminate.

1/3 – 1/2 as long as the spikelets, glabrous, deltoid, acute;

upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, equaling or exceeding the upper florets, smooth, faintly 5-veined, sparsely pilose with short hairs near the margins and apices, acute;

lower florets sterile;

lower paleas absent or much shorter than the lower lemmas;

upper florets 1.5-1.8 mm, ellipsoid, smooth, lustrous, grayish-brown at maturity, apices sparsely puberulent, obtuse to subacute.

florets sterile;

lower glumes 1/3– 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 1-3-veined;

upper glumes 1.8-3.1 mm, 7-9-veined, midveins scabridulous;

lower lemmas 1.9-3 mm, extending 0.4-1.1 mm beyond the upper florets, often stiff, straight, prominently veined distally;

upper florets stramineous or nigrescent, sometimes with a prominent lunate scar at the base, often disarticulating before the glumes, leaving the empty glumes and lower lemmas temporarily persisting on the panicles.

= 18.

= 36.