Fimbristylis schoenoides |
Fimbristylis vahlii |
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ditch fimbry |
Vahl's fimbristylis, Vahl's fimbry |
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Habit | Plants annual, cespitose, 10–35(–40) cm, glabrous; rhizomes absent. | Plants annual, cespitose, delicate, 4–15 cm, bases soft; rhizomes absent. |
Leaves | polystichous, mostly spreading to ascending; sheath margins entire; ligule present, complete; blades narrowly linear, to 1 mm wide, flat to shallowly involute, margins distantly scabrid, surface glabrous. |
polystichous, mostly spreading or excurved, often exceeding culms; sheaths entire, abaxially smooth or sparsely hirtellous; ligule absent; blades filiform, to 0.5 mm wide, somewhat involute, abaxially glabrous or ascending-strigillose. |
Inflorescences | spikelets 1, terminal or 2–3 in simple anthela longer than broad, laterals subsessile; scapes narrowly linear, coarsely ribbed, distally compressed; involucral bracts usually 1 per spikelet, exceeding or exceeded by it. |
terminal; spikelets sessile or subsessile in single capitate leafy-involucrate cluster; scapes filiform; involucral bracts leafy, setaceous, greatly overtopping inflorescence. |
Spikelets | yellowish, mostly turgidly ovoid, 5–8 mm; fertile scales broadly ovate, 2–3 mm, apex obtuse, entire, midrib excurrent or not. |
greenish, cylindric to lanceoloid-cylindric, 5–10 mm; fertile scales narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm, acute, glabrous, midrib strong, excurrent as cusp. |
Flowers | stamens 3, styles 2-fid, flattened, fimbriate. |
stamens 1; styles 2-fid, slender, bulbous-based, smooth or papillate. |
Achenes | near white to pale brown, lenticular-obovoid to obpyriform, 2 mm, appearing smooth under 10–20X magnification, under higher power finely longitudinally ribbed, with fine, isodiametric pits in vertical lines. |
pale, tumidly obovoid, 0.5–0.7 mm, cancellate, pits horizontally rectangular in 5–7 vertical rows per side. |
2n | = 10. |
= 20. |
Fimbristylis schoenoides |
Fimbristylis vahlii |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall, all year in south. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Moist sands or sandy peats of roadsides, ditches, flatwoods clearings, savanna, and particularly, disturbed low, open areas | Moist to wet, alluvial or mineralized banks, shores, fluctuating pond and lake edges, often a “drawdown” plant around stock tanks and reservoirs |
Elevation | 1–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; tropical Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America]
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AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NE; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America
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Discussion | Fimbristylis schoenoides is an unusual Fimbristylis for us, with a smooth, “eleocharis-like” appearance. The plants are mostly low and spreading-culmed, glabrous annuals of Asian origin. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 124. | FNA vol. 23, p. 127. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis | Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Scirpus schoenoides, F. inconstans | Scirpus vahlii, F. apus, F. congesta, F. vincentii, Isolepis vahlii, Scirpus apus |
Name authority | (Retzius) Vahl: Enum. Pl. 2: 286. (1805) | (Lamarck) Link: Hort. Berol. 1: 287. (1827) |
Web links |