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fimbristyle d'automme, slender fimbry

Carolina fimbry

Habit Plants annual, cespitose, 5–20(–30) cm, glabrous, plant base soft; rhizomes absent. Plants perennial, to 150(–200) cm, cespitose or not; rhizomes scaly, slender, elongate.
Culms

wand-like, at least 50 cm.

Leaves

distichous, shorter or longer than culms;

sheaths keeled, entire or distally ciliate;

ligule of short hairs complete;

blades narrowly linear, 1–3 mm wide, flat, margin scabrid-ciliate.

nearly distichous, spreading to ascending, 1/2 length of culms, sheath margins ciliolate at junction with blade, backs smooth to pubescent;

ligule present, usually complete;

blades linear, 2–5 mm wide, flat to involute, margins scabridulous, surfaces mostly glabrous.

Inflorescence(s)

anthelae compound, mostly diffuse, mostly turbinate, as broad as long, ascending-branching;

scapes filiform to linear, distally variously compressed, sometimes alate, 0.5–1.5(–2) mm wide, edges scabrid;

primary involucral bract usually 1, blade exceeding or exceeded by anthela.

anthelae compound, dense or diffuse, mostly longer than broad;

scapes wandlike, broadly linear, distally usually compressed, marginal ribs scabrid distally;

longest primary involucral bract exceeding or shorter than anthela.

Spikelets

red-brown or brown, mostly narrowly lanceoloid to narrowly ellipsoid, 3–7 mm;

fertile scales lanceolate, keeled, 1.5–2 mm, narrowly acute, glabrous, midrib excurrent as mucro.

pale brown or red-brown, broadly ovoid, ellipsoid, or lanceoloid, 5–15 mm;

fertile scales ovate, 3–4 mm, apex rounded, often puberulent distally, midrib excurrent as scabrid mucro or short cusp.

Flowers

stamens (1–)2;

styles 3-fid, slender, with 3angled base, glabrous.

stamens 3;

styles 2-fid, flat, fimbriolate.

Achenes

pale brown, trigonous-obovoid, 0.5–0.7 mm, apiculate and 3-ribbed, smooth to variably warty.

pale to deep brown, lenticular-obovoid, 1 mm, finely but definitely cancellate with 14–15 horizontally oriented lattices per side.

2n

= 10.

= 20, 30, 60.

Fimbristylis autumnalis

Fimbristylis caroliniana

Phenology Fruiting summer–fall, all year southward. Fruiting summer–fall.
Habitat Moist to wet sands, peats, silts, or clays, primarily of disturbed, sunny ground such as seeps, ditches, savanna, stream banks, reservoir drawdowns, and pond shores Sands or sandy peats of slightly brackish to circumneutral marsh, interdunal swales and low sandy areas near coast
Elevation 0–500(–1000) m (0–1600(–3300) ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; ON; QC
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from FNA
AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; SC; TX; VA; Mexico; West Indies
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The tallest, coarsest plants of Fimbristylis caroliniana, formerly referred to as F. harperi Britton ex Small, are the most clonal of North American Fimbristyloids, some clones literally covering acres of sandy swale or beach.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 130. FNA vol. 23, p. 123.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis
Sibling taxa
F. annua, F. brevivaginata, F. caroliniana, F. castanea, F. cymosa, F. decipiens, F. dichotoma, F. miliacea, F. perpusilla, F. puberula, F. schoenoides, F. squarrosa, F. thermalis, F. tomentosa, F. vahlii
F. annua, F. autumnalis, F. brevivaginata, F. castanea, F. cymosa, F. decipiens, F. dichotoma, F. miliacea, F. perpusilla, F. puberula, F. schoenoides, F. squarrosa, F. thermalis, F. tomentosa, F. vahlii
Synonyms Scirpus autumnalis, F. autumnalis var. mucronulata, F. frankii, Scirpus michauxii, Scirpus mucronulatus, Trichelostylis geminata, Trichelostylis mucronulata Scirpus carolinianus, F. harperi
Name authority (Linnaeus) Roemer & Schultes: in J. J. Roemer et al., Syst. Veg. 2: 97. (1817) (Lamarck) Fernald: Rhodora 42: 246. (1940)
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