Key to Deschampsia

View taxon page for Deschampsia

(For a list of species in Deschampsia, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Annual; stems 1 or loosely clumped; 

basal 

At or near the base of a plant or plant part. Especially said of leaves clustered near the ground or of a placenta confined to the base of an ovary.

 leaves not tufted ..... D. danthonioides

1' Perennial herb; stems loosely to densely clumped; basal leaves tufted

2. Inflorescence < 1 cm wide; basal 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

 blades ± 1 mm wide ..... D. elongata

2' Inflorescence > 1 cm wide; basal leaf blades 1–4 mm wide ..... D. cespitosa

3. Inflorescence compact, lower branches 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

to 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

..... subsp. holciformis

3' Inflorescence open, lower branches 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

to drooping

4. Plants generally glaucous; glumes 4.4–7.5 mm; 

awns 

1. Bristle-like appendage or elongation, generally terminal. 2. Stiff, needle-like pappus element in Asteraceae.

generally exceeding 

lemmas 

In Poaceae, the lower, generally larger of two sheathing bracts subtending a flower, generally ensheathing the palea (in a sterile lemma, the associated flower and sometimes palea are rudimentary or absent); with the palea and flower, comprising the floret.

..... subsp. beringensis

4' Plants not glaucous; glumes 2–6 mm; awns generally exceeded by or exceeding lemmas ..... subsp. cespitosa

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