Flora of North America species comparison

erect to excurved, leafybased, filiform.

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

shorter than culm;

blades ascending to excurved, filiform, proximally to 1 mm wide, margins involute, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering.

ascending, overtopped by culm;

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

spikelet clusters 1–3, laterals 0–2, turbinate, rarely hemispheric; leafy bracts setaceous, overtopping inflorescence.

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.

redbrown, narrowly lanceoloid, 5–7 mm, apex acute;

fertile scales lanceolate, 3.5–5 mm, apex acute, mucronate.

dark brown, lance-ellipsoid, 2–3 mm;

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

perianth absent.

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

2(–5) per spikelet, (1.7–)2–2.2 mm;

body on short, setulose receptacular stipe, brown with pale center, obovoidlenticular, 0.8–1.1 mm, surfaces very finely longitudinally lined, sometimes faintly reticulatecancellate;

tubercle triangular subulate, 0.7–0.9 mm, base lunate, edges setulose.

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.