Flora of North America species comparison

10-100 cm, 2-10 mm thick, erect, simple or sparingly branched basally;

nodes sericeous, pilose or glabrous;

internodes usually glaucous.

30-75 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, terete to slightly compressed, erect or ascending, stiff, often bent at the nodes, simple or sparingly branched;

nodes densely pubescent.

shorter than or equaling the internodes, rounded, hirsute, green or tinged with purple, margins ciliate;

ligules 0.5-1 mm;

blades 12-30 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, stiffly erect or ascending, flat, pubescent, sometimes sparsely so, hairs papillose-based, bases truncate, apices attenuate.

often crowded basally;

sheaths rounded, glabrous or hirsute, hairs fragile, papillose-based, margins sometimes ciliate distally;

ligules 0.6-2 mm;

blades 4-23 cm long, 1-10 mm wide, erect to spreading, flat or sometimes involute (on sterile branches), often curling at maturity, glaucous, abaxial surfaces sometimes with prominent papillae along the midribs, bases rounded or narrowing to the sheaths, margins cartilaginous, ciliate basally, scabridulous elsewhere, apices acute.

terminal, 15-30 cm long, 10-12(26) cm wide, usually shortly exserted, scarcely overtopping the blades;

rachises hispid, sometimes glabrous basally;

primary branches alternate or opposite, divergent, secondary branches divergent, most abundant on the distal 1/3 of the primary branches, with 1-3 spikelets;

pedicels 2-20 mm, confined to the distal 1/3 of the branches;

pulvini poorly developed, shortly pilose.

2.1-4.2 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, usually ovoid, glabrous.

5-6.5 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, glabrous, long-acuminate.

1.2-2.4 mm, 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the spikelets, attenuate;

upper glumes and lower lemmas similar, 7-11-veined, acuminate, extending 0.3-1.2 mm beyond the upper florets;

lower florets sterile;

lower paleas 0.8-2 mm;

upper florets 1.5-2.4 mm long, 0.7-1.2 mm wide, ovoid to ellipsoid, smooth, nigrescent.

2-3 mm, about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, attached about 0.4 mm below the upper glumes, 5-7-veined, acute to obtuse;

upper glumes and lower lemmas 5-6 mm, exceeding the upper florets by 3-4 mm, 9-13-veined;

lower florets sterile;

lower paleas 1.5-2 mm, acute;

upper florets 1.6-2 mm long, 1-1.1 mm wide, smooth, chestnut brown when mature.

panicles 7-31 cm long, 3-15 cm wide;

rachises glabrous, tending to break at maturity;

branches usually alternate, slender, stiff, ascending to divergent;

pedicels 1-15 mm, appressed.

= 18.

= 36.