Rhynchospora caduca |
Rhynchospora glomerata |
|
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anglestem beaksedge |
cluster beaksedge |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 70–150 cm; rhizomes often present, short, scaly. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 80–150 cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect or ascending, leafy, trigonous. |
excurvednodding, leafy, triangular, slender; principal leaves overtopped by culm; blades flat, 2.5–5 mm wide, apex attenuate, trigonous. |
Leaves | exceeded by culm; blades linear, proximally 4–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering. |
|
Inflorescences | terminal and axillary; clusters 3–6, mostly dense, narrowly to broadly turbinate, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeeding proximalmost inflorescences. |
terminal and axillary, spikelet clusters mostly 2–6, compact, turbinate to hemispheric, 1.5–2 cm wide; peduncles progressively shorter distally on culm; bracteal leaves mostly exceeding subtended groups. |
Spikelets | rich brown, ovoid, (3–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate; fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent. |
crowded, deep redbrown, lanceellipsoid, 4.5–6.5 mm; fertile scales ovatelanceolate, 3.5–4(–4.5) mm, apex acute, midrib mostly shortexcurrent. |
Flowers | perianth bristles mostly 6, exceeding tubercle tip. |
perianth bristles 6, overtopping tubercle, antrorsely barbellate. |
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–)2(–3) per spikelet, 3–4 mm; body dark redbrown with pale center, stipitate, lenticular, obovoid, or orbicular, 1.5–2 × 1.2–1.4 mm, base narrowed, margins pale, wirelike; surfaces slick; tubercle triangular-subulate, 1.3–1.5(–1.8) mm. |
Rhynchospora caduca |
Rhynchospora glomerata |
|
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 meadows, swales, fens, flatwoods, and bogs, 0–500 m |
Elevation | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) | |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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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.) |
Rhynchospora glomerata is often associated with R. capitellata and is distinguishable by its taller, slightly stouter habit; longer, slightly paler spikelets; and longer and broader fruit body. It is a common lowland weed in the southern Piedmont, Atlantic coastal plain, and Gulf coastal plain, where it is often more associated with R. inexpansa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 223. | FNA vol. 23, p. 211. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Phaeocephalum caducum, R. patula | Schoenus glomeratus, Phaeocephalum glomeratum, R. cymosa, R. glomerata var. angusta, R. glomerata var. paniculata, R. glomerata var. robustior, R. paniculata, Triodon glomeratus |
Name authority | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 62. (1816) | (Linnaeus) Vahl: Enum. Pl. 2: 234. (1805) |
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