Flora of North America species comparison

10-75 cm, about 1 mm thick, simple or with erect basal branches;

nodes densely pilose, hairs ascending;

internodes glabrous or shortly pubescent distally.

50-100 cm, erect, solitary or in small tufts from stout, scaly, creeping to vertical rhizomes or stolons, simple or branching at the base;

nodes densely villous.

longer than the internodes, green to purplish, hispid, margins sparsely ciliate;

ligules 0.5-1.5 mm;

blades 3-32 cm long, 1-7 mm wide, ascending to erect, linear, narrowing basally, flat or the margins involute, surfaces sparsely hirsute or pilose (rarely glabrous), hairs near the base papillose-based, margins prominent, apices acute.

densely villous;

ligules membranous, ciliate, hairs 1.5-2 mm;

blades 20-60 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, ascending to spreading, strigose to subglabrous, flat basally, tapering to a long, involute point.

5-45 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, at least 1/2 as long as the plants and 3 times longer than wide, open;

rachises glabrous;

primary branches usually alternate or subopposite, ascending to slightly divergent, secondary branches and pedicels attached to the distal 2/3;

secondary branches diverging;

pedicels 0.5-17 mm, ascending to appressed.

20-30 cm long, 3-9 cm wide, narrow, shortly exserted;

branches slender, ascending;

secondary branches and pedicels 1-4 mm, crowded, ascending to appressed.

2.5 - 3.7 mm long, 0.6-1.1 mm wide, narrowly ovoid, glabrous, acute;

lower glumes 0.8-1.3 mm, 1/3 – 1/2 as long as the spikelets, acuminate;

upper glumes 2.3-3.3 mm, 7-9-veined, exceeding the upper florets by about 0.6 mm;

lower florets sterile;

lower lemmas 2.2-2.7 mm, exceeding the upper florets by about 0.6 mm, 7- or 9-veined, apices scabridulous, pointed;

lower paleas absent;

upper florets 1.6-1.7 mm long, about 0.6 mm wide, usually smooth, usually pale, sometimes becoming dark at maturity.

5-7 mm, densely villous, hairs silvery or tawny-white.

about 3/4 the length of the spikelets, 7-11-veined;

upper glumes and lower lemmas 7-15-veined;

lower florets staminate;

lower paleas about as long as the lower lemmas;

upper florets striate, margins of the upper lemmas villous, hairs white;

lodicules very large.

= 18.

= 36.