Flora of North America species comparison

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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

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

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.

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.

= 36.

= 36.