Flora of North America species comparison

erect to arching-ascending, leafy, wand-like.

erect to excurved, lax, filiform, leafy, ± terete.

mostly basal, few and increasingly distant upculm, shorter than scape;

blades narrowly linear, concave proximally, (1–)2–3 mm wide, tapering and increasingly involute-sulcate proximally, margins scabrid, apex triquetrous, tip narrow but blunt.

exceeded by culm, ascending;

blades filiform, ± terete, margins strongly involute, apex trigonous, sulcate, tapering.

clusters 1(–2), if 2 then close together, dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric;

primary leafy bracts linear, stiff, exceeding clusters.

spikelet clusters mostly 2–3, sparse to dense, oblong to broadly or narrowly turbinate; leafy bracts setaceous, exceeding clusters.

light brown, narrowly lanceoloid, 8–10 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales lanceolate, convex, (6–)7–8 mm, apex narrowly acute, low midrib short-excurrent or not.

pale redbrown, lanceoloid, 3–3.5 mm, apex acute;

fertile scales mostly elliptic, 2–2.5 mm, apex acute, sometimes apiculate.

perianth bristles 6, excurved, plumose from base to midbristle, 5–7.5 mm, antrorsely barbellate to tip.

bristles mere nubs or 1–2, to 0.3 mm.

1–2 per spikelet, 2.3–2.6 × 1.1–1.2 mm;

body brown, short-stipitate, tumidly obovoid, subterete, 1.8–2 mm, margin low, broad;

surfaces interruptedly transversely wavy-rugulose;

tubercle broadly and concavely conic, 0.5–0.7 mm high, base shallowly 2-lobed, discoid, abruptly narrowed to blunt tip.

mostly 2 per spikelet, 1.5–1.6 mm;

body redbrown with pale center, lenticular, broadly obovoid to orbicular, margins pale, narrow, flowing to tubercle;

surfaces smoothish, or faintly cancellate;

tubercle flattened, triangularsubulate, 0.3–0.5 mm.