Flora of North America species comparison

30-110 cm, stout, erect;

nodes glabrous.

20-60 cm, erect, base swollen, bulblike;

cataphylls pubescent;

nodes sparsely pubescent or glabrous.

glabrous;

ligules 2-3 mm;

blades to 35 cm long, 2-5.4 mm wide, conduplicate (rarely flat).

pubescent or glabrous;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades to 25 cm long, 1.9-6.2 mm wide, flat, glabrous, pubescent behind the ligules, margins scabrous, often ciliate basally.

terminal, with 2-7 racemosely arranged branches;

branches 1.6-7.1 cm, usually divergent, rarely merely ascending;

branch axes 0.6-1.1 mm wide, glabrous, terminating in a spikelet.

terminal, with 2-5(8) racemosely arranged branches;

branches 0.9-4.4 cm, divergent to spreading, terminating in a spikelet;

branch axes 0.2-0.5 mm wide, narrowly winged.

2.5-3 mm long, 1.5-2.2 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-ovate, light to dark brown.

1.3-2 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, paired (rarely appearing solitary as a result of aborted spikelets), imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic.

absent;

upper glumes usually with short, appressed pubescence, rarely glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire;

lower lemmas with short, appressed pubescence or glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire;

upper florets dark glossy brown.

absent;

upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous or sparsely and shortly pubescent basally or around the margins, 5-veined, margins entire;

lower lemmas lacking ribs over the veins;

upper florets 1.3-1.8 mm, stramineous to golden brown.

1.4-1.6 mm, brown.

1.2-1.4 mm, ellipsoid, amber.

= 20, 40, 60.

= 40.