The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

anglestem beaksedge

short-beak beaksedge, shortbeak bald-rush

Habit Plants perennial, cespitose, 70–150 cm; rhizomes often present, short, scaly. Plants annual, cespitose or solitary, (10–)20–100 cm; rhizomes absent.
Culms

erect or ascending, leafy, trigonous.

erect, leafy, nearly terete or angled, manyribbed.

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, clusters of corymbs 1–5, usually diffuse; leafy bracts exceeding proximal corymbs.

Spikelets

rich brown, ovoid, (3–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib included or shortexcurrent.

dark brown, lanceoloid to ovoid, mostly 4–6(–8) mm, apex acute;

fertile scales many, ovate, rounded-convex, 2–3.5 mm, apex acute, midrib mostly included, rarely forming apiculus.

Flowers

perianth bristles mostly 6, exceeding tubercle tip.

perianth absent.

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.

1–1.3(–1.5) mm, body dark brown, tumidly lenticular, nearly orbicular, 0.7–1 × 0.7–1 mm, margins strong, interrupted at tubercle base;

surfaces irregularly transversely rugulose with wavy rows of vertical, linear, raised cells;

tubercle depressed-triangular, 0.1–0.3 mm, capping fruit summit, base broadly 2lobed.

Principal

midculm leaves often exceeding inflorescences;

blades linear, proximally flattened, 1–5 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering.

Rhynchospora caduca

Rhynchospora nitens

Phenology Fruiting summer–fall. Fruiting summer–fall or all year.
Habitat Low meadows, clearings, marshes, marsh borders, seeps, bog moats, savannas, ditches, pine flatwoods, swamps Moist to wet sands or peats of stream banks, pond shores, depressions in savannas, marshes
Elevation 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; DE; FL; GA; IN; LA; MA; MI; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TX; VA; Central America; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 223. FNA vol. 23, p. 217.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora
Sibling taxa
R. alba, R. baldwinii, R. brachychaeta, R. breviseta, R. californica, R. capillacea, R. capitellata, R. careyana, R. cephalantha, R. chalarocephala, R. chapmanii, R. ciliaris, R. colorata, R. compressa, R. corniculata, R. crinipes, R. curtissii, R. debilis, R. decurrens, R. divergens, R. elliottii, R. eximia, R. fascicularis, R. fernaldii, R. filifolia, R. floridensis, R. fusca, R. globularis, R. glomerata, R. gracilenta, R. grayi, R. harperi, R. harveyi, R. indianolensis, R. inexpansa, R. inundata, R. knieskernii, R. kunthii, R. latifolia, R. macra, R. macrostachya, R. megalocarpa, R. megaplumosa, R. microcarpa, R. microcephala, R. miliacea, R. mixta, R. nitens, R. nivea, R. odorata, R. oligantha, R. pallida, R. perplexa, R. pineticola, R. pleiantha, R. plumosa, R. punctata, R. pusilla, R. rariflora, R. recognita, R. scirpoides, R. solitaria, R. stenophylla, R. thornei, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
R. alba, R. baldwinii, R. brachychaeta, R. breviseta, R. caduca, R. californica, R. capillacea, R. capitellata, R. careyana, R. cephalantha, R. chalarocephala, R. chapmanii, R. ciliaris, R. colorata, R. compressa, R. corniculata, R. crinipes, R. curtissii, R. debilis, R. decurrens, R. divergens, R. elliottii, R. eximia, R. fascicularis, R. fernaldii, R. filifolia, R. floridensis, R. fusca, R. globularis, R. glomerata, R. gracilenta, R. grayi, R. harperi, R. harveyi, R. indianolensis, R. inexpansa, R. inundata, R. knieskernii, R. kunthii, R. latifolia, R. macra, R. macrostachya, R. megalocarpa, R. megaplumosa, R. microcarpa, R. microcephala, R. miliacea, R. mixta, R. nivea, R. odorata, R. oligantha, R. pallida, R. perplexa, R. pineticola, R. pleiantha, R. plumosa, R. punctata, R. pusilla, R. rariflora, R. recognita, R. scirpoides, R. solitaria, R. stenophylla, R. thornei, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
Synonyms Phaeocephalum caducum, R. patula Scirpus nitens, Isolepis nitens, Psilocarya nitens, Psilocarya rhynchosporoides
Name authority Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 62. (1816) (Vahl) A. Gray: Manual ed. 5, 568. (1867)
Web links