Rhynchospora debilis
Rhynchospora decurrens
savannah beaksedge
swampforest beaksedge
erect to arching or spreading, leafy, ± filiform, ± terete, stiff to rather lax.
lax, erect to ascending-excurved, ± terete, leafy, slender, soft.
exceeded by culm;
blades linearfiliform, proximally shallowly concave, 1 mm, apex tapering, trigonous, blunt or broadly acute.
exceeded by inflorescence;
blades erect or ascending, linear, proximally flat, 2–4 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering.
spikelet clusters 1–2, mostly compact, turbinate to hemispheric; leafy bracts setaceous, exceeding spikelet clusters.
spikelet clusters 4–6, widely spaced, loose, broadly to narrowly turbinate, paniculate, branches capillary, ultimate branches with 1 or 2 spikelets; leafy bracts exceeding proximal clusters, setaceous.
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.
solitary or in 2s, brown, ovoid, 2.5–3.5 mm;
fertile scales ovate, 1.5–2.2 mm, apex acute, apiculate.
bristles 6 or vestigial, rarely reaching fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 6, reaching tubercle base or slightly beyond, antrorsely barbellate.
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.
2–3 per spikelet, 1.5–1.6(–1.8) mm;
body brown or greenish, obovoid, lenticular, 1.1–1.2(–1.3) × 0.7–1 mm, margins narrow, distinct, sharp, flowing to tubercle;
surfaces finely transversely wavyrugulose, intervals of fine, nearly isodiametric or vertical-rectangular pitlike alveolae;
tubercle lowtriangular, entire, 0.3–0.4 mm.
Rhynchospora debilis
Rhynchospora decurrens
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.)
Rhynchospora decurrens superficially resembles R. mixta, with which it is often associated in swamp forests. Its narrower fruit bodies with less distinct transverse rugosity; the smaller, more numerous rows of finer, pitlike alveolae; and its broader, lower tubercles with non-setose edges all comprise consistent differences. The name decurrens is apt, calling attention to the narrow, wirelike pale margins that extend from tubercle base to near the base of the fruit body.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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