Rhynchospora caduca
Rhynchospora debilis
anglestem beaksedge
savannah beaksedge
erect or ascending, leafy, trigonous.
erect to arching or spreading, leafy, ± filiform, ± terete, stiff to rather lax.
exceeded by culm;
blades linear, proximally 4–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering.
exceeded by culm;
blades linearfiliform, proximally shallowly concave, 1 mm, apex tapering, trigonous, blunt or broadly acute.
terminal and axillary;
clusters 3–6, mostly dense, narrowly to broadly turbinate, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeeding proximalmost inflorescences.
spikelet clusters 1–2, mostly compact, turbinate to hemispheric; leafy bracts setaceous, exceeding spikelet clusters.
rich brown, ovoid, (3–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate;
fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent.
dark redbrown, ovoid, 2–3 mm, apex acute;
fertile scales obovate, 1.5–1.7(–2) mm, apex broadly rounded or retuse, midrib excurrent as cusp or mucro to 0.5 mm.
perianth bristles mostly 6, exceeding tubercle tip.
bristles 6 or vestigial, rarely reaching fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate.
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.
1–2 per spikelet,1.7–2 mm;
body brown with large pale center, lenticular, broadly obovoid to ± orbicular, 1.2–1.5 × 1.4–1.6 mm;
tubercle flat, triangular, concave-sided, 0.4–0.6 mm, sometimes apiculate.
Rhynchospora caduca
Rhynchospora debilis
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.)
Rhynchospora debilis is very similar to R. wrightiana except it has smaller spikelet clusters and more depressed fruit tubercles. It is a common invader of cutover and bulldozed low pineland where it assumes a lowspreading habit, its many culms radiating from the common center much like spokes in a wheel.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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