Rhynchospora caduca
Rhynchospora gracilenta
anglestem beaksedge
slender beaksedge
erect or ascending, leafy, trigonous.
mostly lax, ascending to leaningexcurved, leafy, linear to filiform, terete.
exceeded by culm;
blades linear, proximally 4–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering.
shorter than culm;
blades ascending, filiform to narrowly linear, proximally flat, 0.5–1.5(–2.5) mm wide, margins distally strongly involute, apex trigonous, tapering.
terminal and axillary;
clusters 3–6, mostly dense, narrowly to broadly turbinate, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeeding proximalmost inflorescences.
spikelet clusters 1–3(–4), proximalmost distant, dense to sparse, narrowly turbinate to hemispheric;
peduncles and branches ascending; leafy bracts linearsetaceous, mostly overtopping clusters.
rich brown, ovoid, (3–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate;
fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent.
redbrown, ovoid to lanceoloid, (3.5–)4–5 mm, apex acute;
fertile scales ovate, 3–4.5 mm, apex acute, mucronate to awnedcuspidate.
perianth bristles mostly 6, exceeding tubercle tip.
bristles 6, mostly reaching tip of tubercle or beyond, 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.
1–3 per spikelet, (2.5–)3–3.5(–4.1) mm;
body dark brown with small pale center, lenticular, broadly ellipsoid to suborbicular, 1.3–2.1 × 1.3–1.5 mm, smooth, margins narrow, flowing into tubercle;
tubercle triangular-subulate, compressed, mostly 1.5–2 mm.
Rhynchospora caduca
Rhynchospora gracilenta
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.)
Through the southern coastal plain are widerleaved examples of Rhynchospora gracilenta that are sparingly cespitose to solitary-stemmed, often with but a single terminal inflorescence with dense clusters of spikelets (var. diversifolia). That would be a tenable designation were it not for the large numbers of populations with intermediate habit.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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