Flora of North America species comparison

lax, leafy toward base, filiform, ± terete.

erect to curved, leafy, obscurely trigonous to nearly terete, few ribbed, slender.

ascending, exceeded by culm;

blades filiform, to 0.5 mm, margins mostly involute, apex trigonous, tapering.

mostly lax cymes or clusters of cymes, 1–2, sparse, turbinate, branches capillary; leafy bracts setaceous, exceeding proximal cymes, shorter than, equaling or slightly exceeding distal cymes.

clusters 1 or 2–3, then widely spaced, narrowly turbinate to hemispheric, 1.5–2.5 cm wide; subtending leafy bracts often exceeded by distal cluster.

redbrown, fusiformlanceoloid, 5 mm, apex acute;

fertile scales lanceolate, 3.5–4.5 mm, apex acute or acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent.

pale brown to nearly white, ellipsoid, 3.5–5.5 mm, apex acute;

fertile scales elliptic, 3–3.5(–4) mm, apex acute or acuminate, midrib excurrent as mucro.

perianth bristles 6, exceeding tubercle base, antrorsely barbellate, basally setose.

perianth bristles 10–12, slightly overtopping tubercle, retrorsely barbellate or rarely smooth, base often setose.

1 per spikelet, 2.8–3 mm;

body pale brown, obovoidpyriform, tumidly lenticular, 1.5–1 × 1 mm;

surfaces transversely wavyrugose, intervals vertically striate with narrow, raised alveolae;

tubercle flat, narrowly triangular-subulate, (0.8–)1–1.5 mm.

1(–2) per spikelet, (2.3–)2.5–3 mm;

body pale brown with paler center, stipitateobovoid, lenticular, 1.5–1.8(–2) × 0.9–1.2 mm;

surfaces transversely striate, relatively smooth, rim narrow, flowing to tubercle base;

tubercle narrowly triangularsubulate, 0.5–1.2 mm.

leaves mostly overtopped by culm;

blades narrowly linear to filiform, proximally flat, 0.5–1.5 mm, apex tapering, trigonous.