Cyperus oxylepis |
Cyperus fuscus |
|
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sharpscale flatsedge |
brown flatsedge, brown galingale |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, cespitose, coarse, (culms, leaves, bracts, and rays viscid). | Herbs, annual, cespitose. |
Culms | roundly trigonous, 10–50 cm × 0.9–2.4 mm. |
trigonous, 2–30 cm × 0.6–1.1 mm, glabrous. |
Leaves | adaxial face concave, becoming flat to trigonous apically, 10–46 cm × 1.5–4 mm, margins involute. |
flat, 4–10 cm × 2–4 mm. |
Inflorescences | spikes ovoid, 1–5.5 cm wide; rays usually 3–6, 0.5–5 cm, glabrous; sometimes absent in small plants; if absent, inflorescence a congested head of spikelets 1–3.5 cm diam.; 2d order rays 0–3, 1–3 cm; bracts 3–5, vertical to ascending at 45°, 2.5–25 cm × 1.2–4 mm, margins involute; 2d order bracts 0–2, 5–20 mm; rachilla persistent, wingless. |
rays 1–3, 0.2–1.5 cm; 2d order rays present in robust plants, to 5 mm; bracts 2–3, longest erect, others spreading, 1–20 cm × 1.5–3 mm. |
Spikelets | 5–24, greenish yellow to golden brown, oblong to linear-lanceoloid, quadrangular, strongly compressed, 7–20(–30) × 2.5–4(–6) mm; floral scales 10–20(–40), spreading, pale green to stramineous, laterally 2–3-ribbed, ovate-lanceolate, 3.1–4 × 1.5–2.4 mm, apex with mucro 0.2–0.8 mm. |
3–12, narrowly ellipsoid, flattened, 3–7 × 0.9–1.2 mm; floral scales 8–12(–16), laterally purplish brown, medially greenish yellow, 3-ribbed medially, orbiculate, 0.9–1.1 × 1 mm, apex mucronate. |
Flowers | anthers 0.6–0.8 mm; styles 0.8–1.6 mm; stigmas 1–1.4 mm. |
stamen 1; anthers ellipsoid, 0.2 mm, connective not prolonged; styles 0.3–0.4 mm; stigmas 0.3 mm. |
Achenes | light to dark brown, rarely somewhat reddish, stipitate, ellipsoid, 2–2.4 × 0.5–0.8 mm, base cuneate, stipe whitish, spongy, 0.2–0.3 × 0.2–0.4 mm, apex acute, persistent style forming beak 0.5–1.2 mm, surfaces glabrous or finely papillose. |
light brown, ellipsoid, 0.7–0.9 × 0.4 mm, base barely stipelike to narrowly cuneate, apex acute, surfaces glabrous. |
Cyperus oxylepis |
Cyperus fuscus |
|
Phenology | Fruiting summer. | Fruiting summer. |
Habitat | Ditches and disturbed places in marshes, often in saline soil | Damp, disturbed soils, emergent shorelines, puddles |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–1700 m (0–5600 ft) |
Distribution |
AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX; Mexico; South America [Introduced in North America]
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CA; CT; MA; MD; MO; NE; NJ; NV; PA; SD; VA; ON; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Cyperus oxylepis is easily recognized by its sticky leaves, culms, and bracts (in living plants), involute leaves,and golden brown spikelets. The ovate-lanceolate floral scales and the ellipsoid, brownish achene with a persistent beak distinguish C. oxylepis from other species with deciduous floral scales. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
A native of temperate Eurasia, Cyperus fuscus is intermittently adventive and locally established 35°–45° N latitude. The report from New York (M. L. Fernald 1950) is based on a misidentification of C. diandrus (R. S. Mitchell and G. C. Tucker 1997). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 171. | FNA vol. 23, p. 157. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Cyperus > subg. Cyperus | Cyperaceae > Cyperus > subg. Pycnostachys |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Nees ex Steudel: Syn. Pl. Glumac. 2: 25. (1855) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 46. (1753) |
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