Flora of North America species comparison

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

40-120 cm, clumped, erect, usually smooth.

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.

3-4 per culm;

sheaths crisped-pubescent to shaggy-pilose, scabrous or smooth;

ligules (1.5)3-6 mm, rounded to truncate;

blades 10-30 cm long, (3)7-10 mm wide, flat, erect, lax, margins and occasionally the surfaces with scattered 1-3 mm hairs.

(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.

10-25 cm long, (0.75)1-3(4) cm wide, erect or nodding at the apices, green or tan, occasionally purple-tinged;

branches 1-5.5 cm, ascending to somewhat divergent, most spikelet-bearing for their full length, sometimes the lowermost branches naked below.

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.

7-9 mm, pedicellate, with 2-4 florets;

rachilla internodes 1.5-3 mm;

rachilla hairs 0.7-1 mm;

disarticulation above the glumes, beneath the florets.

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.

unequal to subequal;

lower glumes 3-5 mm, narrow, lanceolate to subulate, acute or long-tapered;

upper glumes (3.5)5-7(9) mm long, shorter than the lowest florets, at least twice as wide as the lower glumes, broadly lanceolate to obovate, widest at or below the middle, tapering to the apices, acute;

callus hairs about 0.5 mm;

lemmas 5-7 mm, glabrous, apices bifid, teeth to 2.5(3.2) mm, setaceous, awned, awns 7-14 mm, usually arising on the upper 1/3 of the lemmas, exceeding the apices, geniculate;

paleas as long as or slightly longer than the lemmas;

anthers 1-3 mm.

1.5-3(4) mm, glabrous.

usually to 3 mm, glabrous or finely hairy distally.

= 14, 28, 42.

= 28, 42.