Flora of North America species comparison

10-120 cm, clumped, erect, usually glabrous, sometimes villous, sometimes scabridulous.

5-150 cm, glabrous or pubescent, basal branching extravaginal.

open the entire length or fused at the base;

auricles absent;

ligules membranous, often erose to lacerate, sometimes ciliolate;

blades rolled in the bud.

mostly basal or evenly distributed;

sheaths variously pubescent or glabrous;

ligules 0.5-4 mm, truncate or rounded;

blades (3)10-20(40) cm long, 1-5 mm wide, flat, folded, or involute, erect and stiff or ascending and lax.

(5)20-30(50) cm long, (0.5)1-2.5(5) cm wide, spikelike to open, often interrupted basally, green, purplish, or tawny, usually silvery-shiny;

branches with the spikelets evenly distributed.

terminal panicles, open and diffuse to dense and spikelike;

branches antrorsely scabrous.

5-7.5 mm, sessile, subsessile, or on pedicels to 1.5(3.5) mm, with 2(3) florets;

rachilla internodes 0.5-1.5 mm;

rachilla hairs to 1 mm.

2.5-12 mm, usually subsessile to pedicellate, rarely sessile, laterally compressed, with 2-5 florets, reduced florets sometimes present distally;

rachillas hairy, internodes evident, prolonged beyond the base of the distal bisexual florets;

disarticulation usually initially above the glumes and beneath the florets, subsequently below the glumes, in some species initially below the glumes.

subequal to unequal, lanceolate, usually smooth, sometimes sparsely scabrous, sometimes pilose, with wide scarious margins, apices acute to acuminate, sometimes apiculate;

lower glumes 3-4(5.5) mm;

upper glumes 4-7 mm long, as long as or longer than the lowest florets, less than twice as wide as the lower glumes;

callus hairs to 1 mm;

lemmas 3-6(7) mm, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, glabrous or pilose, sometimes scabridulous, apices bifid, teeth usually shorter than 1 mm, awned, awns 3-8 mm, arising from the upper 1/3 of the lemmas and exceeding the apices, geniculate, twisted basally;

anthers 0.7-1.4 mm.

subequal or unequal, keels scabrous, apices usually acute, unawned, often apiculate;

lower glumes 1(3)-veined;

upper glumes 3(5)-veined, lateral veins less than 1/2 the glume length;

calluses hairy;

lemmas 3-7-veined, margins hyaline, unawned or awned from above the middle with a single awn, apices usually bifid, sometimes entire;

paleas from subequal to longer than the lemmas, membranous, 2-veined, veins usually extending as bristlelike tips;

lodicules 2, shallowly and usually slenderly lobed to fimbriate;

anthers 3;

ovaries glabrous or pubescent;

styles 2.

1.5-3(4) mm, glabrous.

shorter than the lemmas, concealed at maturity, elongate-fusiform, compressed, brown;

embryos elliptic, to 1/3 the length of the caryopses;

endosperm milky, x = 7.

= 14, 28, 42.