Flora of North America species comparison

erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender.

excurvednodding, leafy, triangular, slender;

principal leaves overtopped by culm;

blades flat, 2.5–5 mm wide, apex attenuate, trigonous.

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

blades linear, proximally flat, 1–3 mm wide, gradually involute, apically 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 axillary, spikelet clusters mostly 2–6, compact, turbinate to hemispheric, 1.5–2 cm wide;

peduncles progressively shorter distally on culm;

bracteal leaves mostly exceeding subtended groups.

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.

crowded, deep redbrown, lanceellipsoid, 4.5–6.5 mm;

fertile scales ovatelanceolate, 3.5–4(–4.5) mm, apex acute, midrib mostly shortexcurrent.

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

perianth bristles 6, overtopping tubercle, 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.

(1–)2(–3) per spikelet, 3–4 mm;

body dark redbrown with pale center, stipitate, lenticular, obovoid, or orbicular, 1.5–2 × 1.2–1.4 mm, base narrowed, margins pale, wirelike;

surfaces slick;

tubercle triangular-subulate, 1.3–1.5(–1.8) mm.