Flora of North America species comparison

to 150 cm tall, to 10 mm thick, erect, terete, solitary or in small clumps, succulent, glabrous, often with adventitious roots from the lower nodes, having an unpleasant, sulphurous odor when fresh.

27-150 cm, forming large clumps, indurate, usually with short extravaginal shoots appressed to the culms.

mostly glabrous, throats sparsely pilose, lower sheaths sometimes somewhat wrinkled;

ligules 1-2 mm;

blades 8-12 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous, margins usually smooth, sometimes slightly scabrous, apices acuminate.

glabrous, lower sheaths smooth, indurate and shining, upper sheaths dull and somewhat striate;

ligules 1-2 mm;

blades 12-43 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, involute when fresh, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces and margins scabrous, apices acuminate.

12-25 cm, with 3-25 branches, smoothly cylindrical, often partially enclosed in the uppermost sheath;

rachises twisted, glabrous;

branches 2-8 cm, usually closely appressed and twisted, lower branches noticeably longer and less closely imbricate than the upper branches, all branches with axes rarely extending past the distal spikelets, with 8-30 spikelets.

10-30 cm long, 4-8 mm wide, sinuous in outline, often twisted, with 2-15 branches;

branches 1-11 cm long, longer branches narrower than the shorter branches, all branches tightly appressed, moderately imbricate, axes not prolonged beyond the distal spikelets, with 10-30 spikelets.

8-25 mm, usually appressed, often appearing twisted, those on the lower branches usually less closely imbricate than those on the upper branches.

8-14 mm.

usually curved, sides and keels glabrous, scabrous, or hispid, apices acuminate to obtuse or rounded;

lower glumes 6-12 mm;

upper glumes 8-25 mm, 1-veined;

lemmas glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent on the sides, keels glabrous, apices obtuse, rounded or lobed;

paleas slightly exceeding the lemmas, thin, papery, glabrous, apices usually rounded, rarely acuminate;

anthers 3-6 mm.

glabrous or sparsely hispidulous, keels hispidulous, margins sparsely hispidulous;

lower glumes 4-7 mm, usually obtuse;

upper glumes 8-14 mm, 1-veined, usually acuminate;

lemmas minutely hispidulous, keels glabrous proximally, hispidulous distally, apices acuminate to obtuse;

paleas acuminate, keels glabrous basally, hispidulous distally;

anthers 3-5 mm.

= 60.

= 60 [this chromosome count was obtained by Gerish (1979), who reported it for S. foliosa, but Spicher and Josselyn (1985) demonstrated that the plants he worked with were almost certainly S. densiflora, a species that hitherto had been misidentified as the native S. foliosa].