Flora of North America species comparison

erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender.

arching, slender, leafy.

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

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

exceeded by culm;

blades elongate linear, proximally flat, 2–3 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate.

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.

terminal and lateral, clusters 2–3, loosely turbinate, clusters, capillary pedunculate;

distal foliaceous bracts mostly exceeded by inflorescences.

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.

few per cluster, brown, broadly ovoid, 4 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales oblongovate, 3 mm, midrib forming small awn.

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

perianth bristles 6, exceeding tubercle tip, antrorsely barbellate.

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.

mostly 2 per spikelet, 3 mm;

body pale yellowbrown, pyriform-obovoid, lenticular, 2 × 1.4 mm;

surfaces transversely wavyrugulose, vertically striatealveolate between ridges;

tubercle subulatetriangular, 1 mm.