Flora of North America species comparison

erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender.

leafy at base, filiform, wiry.

spreading to ascending, shorter than culm, crowded toward culm base;

blades linear, proximally flat, 1–3 mm wide, gradually involute, apically trigonous, subulate.

blades filiform, nearly reaching inflorescence tip or much shorter, to 0.3 mm thick, apex tapering.

spikelet clusters 1–4, dense to open, mostly irregularly turbinate;

peduncles ascending, branches spreading to erect, ultimate branches with many spikelets; leafy bracts setaceoustipped, usually exceeding all clusters, or at least all but the distal.

spikelet clusters mostly 2–6, simple or reduced to 1 spikelet, often with 2 capillary branches, one divaricate or reflexed, 1 ascending; leafy bracts single per cluster, filiform, setaceous, with clusters appearing lateral to bracts.

light redbrown or brown, broadly ellipsoid to lanceoloid, 3–4 mm, apex acute to acuminate;

fertile scales ovate to obovate or suborbiculate, 2–3.5 mm apex acute to rounded or emarginate, midrib included or exserted as mucro.

pale redbrown, ellipsoidlanceoloid, 5–6(–8) mm, apex acute to acuminate;

fertile scales narrowly ovate, 3–5(–6) mm, apex acute, midrib included or shortexcurrent.

perianth bristles mostly 6, rarely reaching fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate.

perianth bristles 6, not reaching past fruit midbody, stubby, plumose to near tip.

mostly 1 per spikelet, 2–2.5 mm, body dark brown, obovoid to subglobose, tumid or lenticular, 1.5–1.7 mm, transversely finely rugose to nearly level, intervals with very small, pitlike alveoli.

3–8 per spikelet, 2–2.5 mm;

body light brown to brown, ellipsoid-obovoid, tumidly lenticular, 1.5–2 × 1.6–1.7 mm;

surfaces faintly, interruptedly crossrugulose, apically indented under tubercle;

tubercle lowconic, 0.5 mm, base flaring, circular.