Arctic False Bent

Agrostis aequivalvis (Trin.) Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb VI. 6 2 : 362. 1841.
Agrostis canina var. aequivalvis Trin.; Bong. Mem. Acad. St. -Petersb. VI. 2: 171. 1832.
Deyeuxia aequivalvis Benth.; (Vasey. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 77, as synonym of Agrostis aequivalvis Trin. 1892) B. D. Jackson, Ind. Kew. 1: 740. 1893. (Based on Agrostis aequivalvis Trin., as indicated by Benth. Jour. Linn. Soc 19: 91. 1881 ; the combination not made there.)
Podagrostis aequivalvis Scribn. & Merr. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 13: 58. 1910. (Based on Agrostis canina var. aequivalvis Trin.)
Perennial; culms cespitose, glabrous, 2or 3-noded, 30-60 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous; ligule about 2 mm. long; blades erect, slightly scabrous, usually 4-6 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide; panicle narrow, somewhat loose, usually purple, 5-15 cm. long, the branches slender, those of a fascicle unequal in length, ascending, slightly scabrous, mostly 1-2 cm. long, branched about the middle, the few branches of the second order being the pedicels of the spikelets; spikelets about 3-4.5 mm. long; glumes glabrous, or slightly scabrous on keel near tip, acute; lemma about as long as the glumes, the callus minutely pilose; palea about 1.3 mm. long; prolongation of the rachilla minutely pubescent, one fifth to half as long as the lemma.
Type locality: Sitka, Alaska.
Distribution: Bogs and wet meadows, Alaska southward (rare) in the Cascade Mountains to Oregon .

Perennials, Terres trial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, bra nches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence lax, widely spreading, branches drooping, pendulous, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Lower panicle branches whorled, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerv ed, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.