Flora of North America species comparison

erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender.

erect, leafy, nearly terete or angled, manyribbed.

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, clusters of corymbs 1–5, usually diffuse; leafy bracts exceeding proximal corymbs.

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.

dark brown, lanceoloid to ovoid, mostly 4–6(–8) mm, apex acute;

fertile scales many, ovate, rounded-convex, 2–3.5 mm, apex acute, midrib mostly included, rarely forming apiculus.

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

perianth absent.

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.

1–1.3(–1.5) mm, body dark brown, tumidly lenticular, nearly orbicular, 0.7–1 × 0.7–1 mm, margins strong, interrupted at tubercle base;

surfaces irregularly transversely rugulose with wavy rows of vertical, linear, raised cells;

tubercle depressed-triangular, 0.1–0.3 mm, capping fruit summit, base broadly 2lobed.

midculm leaves often exceeding inflorescences;

blades linear, proximally flattened, 1–5 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering.