Flora of North America species comparison

erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender.

erect to ascending, leafy, slender, angular.

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 linear, proximally flat, 3–6 mm wide, apex tapering, 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.

of terminal and axillary clusters, 3–5, proximalmost widely spaced, turbinate or lobed, fascicles dense, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeding all but proximalmost clusters.

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.

rich redbrown, ovoid, (4–)5–6(–7) mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales ovate, (3.5–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib short or longexcurrent.

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

perianth bristles 6, reaching past 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.

mostly 3–4(–7) per spikelet, 3 mm with pedicellar joint and tubercle;

body pale yellowbrown, obovoidlenticular, 1.4–1.7 × 1.4 × 1.5;

surfaces transversely finely wavyrugulose, intervals vertically rectangularalveolate;

pedicellar joint 0.3–0.6 mm;

tubercle compressed, triangularacuminate, 0.5–0.6 (–1) mm, margin setulose.