Flora of North America species comparison

erect to arching, leafy, linear to filiform, nearly triangular.

erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender.

ascending, overtopped by culm;

blades flat, linear to filiform, to 1.8 mm wide, apex distally involute, trigonous, setaceous.

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

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

terminal and axillary, spikelet clusters 2–4, widely spaced, the lowest near plant base;

clusters compact, broadly turbinate to hemispheric, to 1.5 cm wide; leafy bracts curved, setaceous, slightly to greatly overtopping subtended compounds.

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.

dark brown, lance-ellipsoid, 2–3 mm;

fertile scales 2 mm, apex acute, midrib short-excurrent or not.

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.

perianth bristles 6, ± as long as fruit body, retrorsely barbellate.

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

mostly 2 per spikelet, 1.5–1.9 mm;

body brown with yellowish center, ellipsoid, lenticular distal to short stipe, 1–1.3 × 0.6–0.8 mm;

tubercle triangular, 0.3–0.6 mm, distinctly shorter than fruit body.

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.