Flora of North America species comparison

arching or erect, leafy, nearly terete, multiribbed, slender.

erect to spreading-ascending, leafybased, trigonous or compressed, ribbed.

exceeded by scape;

blades narrowly linear to filiform, 0.2–2 mm wide, apex tapering, trigonous.

spikelet clusters 2–6, mostly widely spaced;

clusters dense, hemispheric to mostly spheroid, 0.5–1 cm thick.

terminal, solitary, headlike, dense, white, leafyinvolucrate, hemispheric to globose, 0.5–1.5 cm wide;

involucral bracts (0–)1–4, ascending to recurved, green, (0.7–)2–5(–6) cm × 0.2–2 mm.

dark redbrown to dark brown, lanceovoid, (2–)2.5–3.5(–4) mm, apex acute;

fertile scales elliptic, 2–3 mm, apex acute, midrib shortexcurrent or not.

white, ovoid, 5–7 mm;

fertile scales several, boat-shaped, 2.5–3.5 mm, keel curved, not sharp.

perianth bristles 6, reaching tubercle tip, retrorsely barbellate.

perianth absent.

1 per spikelet, 2.5–3 mm;

body pale brown with light center, lenticular, obovoid distal to stipe, 1.1–1.5 × 0.9–1.1 mm, margins pale, wirelike, surfaces slick;

tubercle triangularsubulate, 0.9–1.2(–1.5) mm, at least 0.5 mm wide at base.

0.8–1 mm;

body yellow to near black, broadly pyriform-obovoid, tumidly lenticular, 0.5–0.8 × 0.5–0.8 mm, margin narrow, flowing into tubercle;

surfaces transversely sharply wavyrugose, ridges bordered by rows of fine, linear, vertical lattices;

tubercle depressedtriangular, lunate-based, shortbeaked 0.2(–0.3) mm, gray-crustaceous.

leaves overtopped by culm;

blades linear, proximally flattened, 1–3 mm wide, apex tapering, trigonous.