Rhynchospora caduca |
Rhynchospora capillacea |
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anglestem beaksedge |
brown beak-rush, horned beakrush, needle beaksedge, rhynchospore capillaire, slender beakrush |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 70–150 cm; rhizomes often present, short, scaly. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 10–40 cm, wiry; rhizomes stoloniferous, slender, to 1.5 mm thick. |
Culms | erect or ascending, leafy, trigonous. |
erect or curved, leafy, filiform, angularly fewribbed. |
Leaves | exceeded by culm; blades linear, proximally 4–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering. |
ascending-excurved, overtopped by culm; blades filiform, involute, apex setaceous. |
Inflorescences | terminal and axillary; clusters 3–6, mostly dense, narrowly to broadly turbinate, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeeding proximalmost inflorescences. |
spikelet clusters 1–2(–3), often sparse, ellipsoid or narrowly turbinate, less than 1 cm wide; subtending foliaceous bracts exceeding compounds. |
Spikelets | rich brown, ovoid, (3–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate; fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent. |
erect or ascending, pale redbrown to brown, fusiform, 6–7 mm; fertile scales elliptic, 4 mm, apex rounded or acute, midrib shortexcurrent or not. |
Flowers | perianth bristles mostly 6, exceeding tubercle tip. |
perianth bristles 6, overtopping tubercle base, mostly retrorsely barbellate, sometimes smooth [forma laeviseta (E. |
Fruits | mostly 3–4 per spikelet, 2–2.2 mm; body brown on short pedicellar (to 0.3 mm) stalk, broadly obovoid, lenticular, 1.3–1.5 × 1–1.5 mm, surfaces transversely rugulose, vertically finely striate and rectangularalveolate; tubercle compressed, triangular acuminate, 0.5–0.8 mm, edges setulose. |
1–4(–5) per spikelet, 2.5–3 mm; body pale brown, slender stipitate, ellipsoid, lenticular, 1.5–2 × 0.8–1 mm; surfaces longitudinally minutely striate, obscurely transversely lowrugose, dotted; tubercle narrowly triangularsubulate, flattened, 0.8–1.7 mm. |
j | . |
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Hill | ) Fernald]. |
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Rhynchospora caduca |
Rhynchospora capillacea |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Low meadows, clearings, marshes, marsh borders, seeps, bog moats, savannas, ditches, pine flatwoods, swamps | Moist to wet calcareous fens, seeps over limestones or calcareous rock, marsh meadows |
Elevation | 0–400 m [0–1300 ft] | 0–1000 m [0–3300 ft] |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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AL; AR; CT; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; ND; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; AB; MB; NB; NL; ON; QC; SK
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Discussion | Rhynchospora caduca has its closest relationships with the even more robust R. odorata Grisebach, on the one hand, and the swampinhabiting, more slender, and rhizomatous R. mixta Britton ex Small, on the other. Intergrades with R. odorata appear in Alabama and northwest Florida; intergrades with R. mixta appear where ranges overlap in both the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The two beakrushes most commonly occurring in fens are Rhynchospora capillacea and R. capitellata. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 223. | FNA vol. 23, p. 213. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Phaeocephalum caducum, R. patula | Phaeocephalum capillaceum, R. setacea, Triodon capillaceus |
Name authority | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 62. (1816) | Torrey: Fl. N. Middle United States 1: 55. (1823) |
Web links |