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.

40-120 cm tall, 2-3 mm thick, decumbent to erect, branching from the base and the middle nodes;

nodes pilose, hairs spreading;

internodes hirsute, hairs papillose-based.

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.

usually shorter than the internodes, hirsute, lower sheaths more so than those above, hairs papillose-based;

collars densely pilose;

ligules 0.5-4 mm;

blades 16-55 cm long, 0.5-14 mm wide, erect to ascending, abaxial surfaces hirsute, hairs papillose-based, adaxial surfaces densely pilose, midveins prominent and whitish, bases truncate, margins ciliate basally, apices attenuate.

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.

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

2.6-3.4 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, ovoid, glabrous.

1.4-1.7 mm, to 1/2 as long as the spikelets, acute, 5-7-veined;

upper glumes and lower lemmas similar, exceeding the upper florets by 0.7-0.9 mm, 9-13-veined;

lower florets sterile;

lower paleas 0.5-1.3 mm;

upper lorets 1.7-2.3 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, smooth, ovoid.

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.

panicles 7-35 cm long, 5-23 cm wide, about 1/2 as wide as long, shortly exerted or partially included, lax, open;

axillary panicles smaller, included basally;

primary branches diverging, lower branches solitary, upper branches solitary to subverticillate;

secondary branching primarily in the distal 1/3;

pedicels 1-4 mm, clavate, spreading to appressed.

= 18.

= unknown.