Flora of North America species comparison

5-50 cm, solitary or loosely tufted, erect or decumbent, smooth, scabridulous, or puberulent, unbranched distally.

5-90 cm, erect or ascending from a decumbent base, usually glabrous.

glabrous or puberulent;

ligules to 0.5(1) mm;

blades usually 2-10 cm long, 0.5-2.5 mm wide, rolled or flat, glabrous or puberulent.

open, usually glabrous;

auricles absent;

ligules usually shorter than 1 mm, membranous, usually truncate, ciliate;

blades flat or rolled, glabrous or pubescent.

1.5-15 cm long, 0.5-3 cm wide, conspicuously exserted, with 1 branch per node;

branches usually appressed to erect at maturity, without axillary pulvini;

pedicels flattened, sometimes clavate distally.

panicles or racemes, sometimes spikelike, usually with more than 1 spikelet associated with each node;

branches 1-3 per node, appressed or spreading, usually glabrous, scabrous.

5-10 mm, with 4-8 florets, not closely imbricate;

rachilla internodes 0.6-1.1 mm.

pedicellate, laterally compressed, with 1-11(17) florets, distal florets reduced;

disarticulation above the glumes and beneath the florets, occasionally also at the base of the pedicels.

shorter than the adjacent lemmas, subulate to lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate, unawned or awn-tipped;

lower glumes much shorter than the upper glumes, 1-veined;

upper glumes 3-veined;

rachillas terminating in a reduced floret;

calluses blunt, glabrous;

lemmas membranous, lanceolate, 3-5-veined, veins converging distally, margins involute over the edges of the caryopses, apices entire, acute to acuminate, mucronate or awned;

paleas usually slightly shorter than to equaling the lemmas, sometimes longer;

anthers usually 1, rarely 3 in chasmogamous specimens.

3.5-5 mm, 1/2 - 4/5 the length of the upper glumes;

upper glumes 4.5-9.5 mm, midveins scabrous distally;

lemmas 4-8 mm, 5-veined, scabrous distally, apices entire, awns of the lowermost lemma in each spikelet 2-13 mm;

paleas 4-6.3 mm, equaling or shorter than the lemmas, minutely bifid;

anthers 0.4-0.6(1.5) mm.

3.5-5 mm.

shorter than the lemmas, concealed at maturity, elongate, dorsally compressed, curved in cross section, falling with the lemma and palea.

= 7.

= 14.