Flora of North America species comparison

erect to curved, leafy, obscurely trigonous to nearly terete, few ribbed, slender.

lax,filiform, leafy, terete, grooved.

ascending to erect, exceeded by culm, blades lax, filiform, margins proximally deeply involute, apex trigonous, tapering.

clusters 1 or 2–3, then widely spaced, narrowly turbinate to hemispheric, 1.5–2.5 cm wide; subtending leafy bracts often exceeded by distal cluster.

mostly cymose clusters, simple or compound, 1–3(–4), widely spaced, loose, narrowly to broadly turbinate;, branchies capillary, ascending to spreading, leafy bracts setaceous, exceeded by or exceeding cymes.

pale brown to nearly white, ellipsoid, 3.5–5.5 mm, apex acute;

fertile scales elliptic, 3–3.5(–4) mm, apex acute or acuminate, midrib excurrent as mucro.

light redbrown or brown, lanceovoid to fusiform, 3–4(–4.5) mm, apex acuminate, fertile scales ovate, mostly 2–3 mm, apex rounded to acute, midrib included or shortexcurrent.

perianth bristles 10–12, slightly overtopping tubercle, retrorsely barbellate or rarely smooth, base often setose.

perianth bristles mostly 6, unequal, rarely extending past fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate.

1(–2) per spikelet, (2.3–)2.5–3 mm;

body pale brown with paler center, stipitateobovoid, lenticular, 1.5–1.8(–2) × 0.9–1.2 mm;

surfaces transversely striate, relatively smooth, rim narrow, flowing to tubercle base;

tubercle narrowly triangularsubulate, 0.5–1.2 mm.

1–4 per spikelet, 1.8–2 mm, body yellowbrown to brown, lustrous, tumidly obovoidlenticular, 1–1.5 × 1–1.5 mm, surfaces transversely wavyrugose, intervals vertically striate with narrow alveolae, tubercle flat, triangular, 0.3–0.6 mm.

leaves mostly overtopped by culm;

blades narrowly linear to filiform, proximally flat, 0.5–1.5 mm, apex tapering, trigonous.