Flora of North America species comparison

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

(5)10-40 (60) cm, erect or spreading, mostly glabrous, pilose below the nodes.

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.

basally concentrated;

sheaths scabridulous or pilose;

ligules 1-2.5 mm, truncate;

blades 3-12 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, flat, folded, or involute distally when dry, ascending, glabrous or pubescent, margins frequently sparsely ciliate.

(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.

2-15 cm long, 0.3-1.5 cm wide, often interrupted, at least in the lower 1/3, green or tan;

branches short, usually erect to appressed, the spikelets crowded.

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.

3-6 mm, often in pairs with 1 subsessile and 1 pedicellate, with 2-3 florets;

disarticulation initially above the glumes, subsequently below;

rachilla internodes usually 0.8-1 mm;

rachilla hairs usually about 0.5 mm.

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, 4-5 mm, about as long as the lowest lemmas, smooth or sparsely scabridulous;

lower glumes 0.5-1 mm wide, lanceolate or elliptical, 3-veined, acuminate, sometimes apiculate;

upper glumes about twice as wide as the lower glumes, elliptical or oblanceolate, acuminate;

callus hairs 0.1-0.2(0.5) mm, sparse;

lemmas 3-4.5 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes minutely pustulate-scabridulous, apices bifid, teeth to 1.7 mm, awned, awns usually 4-8 mm, arising from midlength to just below the teeth and exceeding the lemma apices, geniculate, twisted basally, rarely 2-4 mm, straight, arcuate, or flexuous;

paleas usually 2/3 as long as the lemmas, hyaline;

anthers about 0.2 mm.

1.5-3(4) mm, glabrous.

2-3 mm, longitudinally striate, sometimes with a few hairs distally.

= 14, 28, 42.

= 14.