Fimbristylis thermalis |
Fimbristylis cymosa |
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hot springs fimbristylis, hot springs fimbry |
hurricanegrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial, robust, 50–150 cm, cespitose or with culms solitary; rhizomes scaly, slender, elongate. | Plants perennial, cespitose, (5–)10–60 cm, bases hard, glabrous; rhizomes absent. |
Leaves | nearly distichous, spreading to ascending, 1/2 length of culms; sheath margins entire, backs smooth to pubescent; ligule present, complete; blades narrowly linear, proximally flat, 2–3.5(–4) mm wide, margins scabrid-ciliate, abaxial surface sometimes pubescent. |
polystichous, mostly spreading-excurved, to 1/2 as long as culms; sheaths usually entire; ligule absent; blades linear, 2–3 mm wide, flat or shallowly involute, margin scabrid, apex blunt. |
Inflorescences | anthelae simple or compound, longer than wide; scapes wandlike, nearly terete or slightly compressed, distally 1 mm thick, marginal ribs scabrid; longest primary involucral bract shorter than panicle. |
simple or compound anthelae with numerous small pedunculate clusters of sessile spikelets; scapes linear, distally terete, 1–2 mm thick; involucral bracts short, usually shorter than inflorescence. |
Spikelets | pale dull brown, lance-ovoid to cylindric-ellipsoid, 10–12 mm; fertile scales ovate, 3.5–4 mm, apex broadly acute, ciliate, surface uniformly puberulent, midrib excurrent as mucro or cusp. |
greenish brown or yellow-brown, ovoid, 2–3 mm; fertile scales broadly ovate, 1–1.5 mm, obtuse or apically notched, midrib not excurrent. |
Flowers | stamens 3; styles 2-fid, flat, fimbriate. |
stamens usually 1; styles 2-fid, slender, glabrous. |
Achenes | dark brown, lenticular-obovoid, 1.5 mm, finely cancellate, with 20 or more longitudinal rows of horizontally rectangular pits per side. |
dark brown to nearly black, tumidly obovoid, rarely obscurely 3-ribbed, 1 mm, faintly striate to variously warty, faintly reticulate. |
2n | = 20. |
= 56. |
Fimbristylis thermalis |
Fimbristylis cymosa |
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Phenology | Fruiting spring–fall. | Fruiting all year. |
Habitat | Mineralized sands of hot springs, alkaline seep meadows | Sands of sea beaches, brackish sandy open sites, often disturbed, commonly just in from mangrove or on sandy road shoulders |
Elevation | 300–600 m (1000–2000 ft) | 0–50 m (0–200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Coahuila)
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FL; s Mexico; Central America; South America; Africa; Asia; Indian Ocean Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia |
Discussion | New World examples of Fimbristylis cymosa are almost exclusively bicarpellate, with bifid styles; Old World Oceania examples are tricarpellate, with trifid styles, a form not covered in this treatment. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 124. | FNA vol. 23, p. 128. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis | Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | F. melanospora, F. obtusifolia, F. sintenisii, F. spathacea, Scirpus obtusifolius | |
Name authority | S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 360. (1871) | R. Brown: Prodr., 228. (1810) |
Web links |