Flora of North America species comparison

erect or ascending, leafy, trigonous.

erect to excurved, filiform, leafy, stiff to lax.

exceeded by culm;

blades linear, proximally 4–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering.

mostly slightly exceeded by culm;

blades ± filiform, proximally flat to concave, distally tapering, to 1 mm wide, margins involute, apex trigonous, subulate.

terminal and axillary;

clusters 3–6, mostly dense, narrowly to broadly turbinate, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeeding proximalmost inflorescences.

terminal;

spikelet clusters 1(–2), dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric;

longer leafy bracts 1–2(–several), setaceous, overtopping inflorescence.

rich brown, ovoid, (3–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent.

light brown, narrowly ovoid, 2–2.5(–3) mm, apex acute or acuminate;

fertile scales 1.5–2(–2.5) mm, apex acute, midrib excurrent as cusp or awn 0.5–0.9 mm.

perianth bristles mostly 6, exceeding tubercle tip.

bristles absent, rarely reduced to nubbins, or rarely 1, then shorter than fruit body.

mostly 3–4 per spikelet, 2–2.2 mm;

body brown on short pedicellar (to 0.3 mm) stalk, broadly obovoid, lenticular, 1.3–1.5 × 1–1.5 mm, surfaces transversely rugulose, vertically finely striate and rectangularalveolate;

tubercle compressed, triangular acuminate, 0.5–0.8 mm, edges setulose.

1 per spikelet, 1–1.8 mm;

body with dark brown ends, broad pale midzone, lenticular, ± orbicular, 1–1.2 × 0.8–1 mm, surfaces smooth;

margins sharp, flowing to tubercle;

tubercle lowtriangular, 0.2–0.3(–0.5) mm, sometimes apiculate.