Rhynchospora ciliaris |
Rhynchospora torreyana |
|
---|---|---|
fringe beaksedge |
Torrey's beaksedge |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 30–90 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 50–100 cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect or ascending, terete to obscurely trigonous, multiribbed, densely leafybased, slender, stiff, papillose to scabridpuberulent. |
ascending-excurved, leafy, ± terete, slender. |
Leaves | forming strong rosette, distal widely spaced, much exceeded by scape; basal leaf blades shortlinear, flat, 4–6 mm wide, culm leaf blades narrower, longer, all ciliate, apex bluntly acute. |
ascending, overtopped by culm; blades narrowly linear, proximally flat, 2–3 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering. |
Inflorescences | terminal; spikelet cluster 1, crowded, hemispheric, often lobed, to 2 cm wide; bracts strongly ciliate distally; longer leafy bracts exceeding cluster. |
spikelet clusters (1–)2–3, widely spaced, open to dense, broadly to narrowly turbinate, branches ascending to slightly spreading, capillary; leafy bracts setaceous-tipped, overtopping all but distal clusters. |
Spikelets | dark redbrown, ovoid, 4–5(–6) mm, apex acute; fertile scales broadly ovate, 4–4.5 mm, apex blunt, sometimes apiculate or with mucro to 1 mm, midrib scabrid. |
light red-brown, ovoid, 3.5–5 mm, apex acuminate; fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acute, midrib excurrent as cusp or mucro. |
Flowers | bristles 6, some vestigial, none reaching past fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate. |
perianth bristles 6, reaching at most 2/3 length of fruit body, antrorsely barbellate. |
Fruits | 1–2 per spikelet, (1.9–)2–2.5 mm; body dark brown with paler center, lenticular, broadly ellipsoid to orbicular, 1.6–2 × 1.5–1.6 mm, margins flowing to tubercle; tubercle lowtriangular, 0.5 mm, often apiculate. |
1–4(–5) per spikelet, 2 mm; body brown, strongly compressed, obovoid-ellipsoid, 1.4–1.6 × 1–1.2 mm, margins flowing to tubercle; surfaces finely transversely rugose, intervals with narrow vertical alveolae; tubercle flat, low-triangular, 0.2–0.3(–0.5) mm. |
Rhynchospora ciliaris |
Rhynchospora torreyana |
|
Phenology | Fruiting late spring–fall. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Sands and peats in bogs, seeps, depressions in savannas, and low open pinelands | Sands and peats of low meadows, savannas, flatwoods, pond shores, ditch banks |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC
|
AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; MA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; RI; SC; VA |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 237. | FNA vol. 23, p. 224. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Schoenus ciliaris, Phaeocephalum ciliatum, R. ciliata, R. rappiana | Phaeocephalum torreyanum |
Name authority | (Michaux) C. Mohr: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 6: 408. (1901) | A. Gray: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 197. (1835) |
Web links |