Rhynchospora debilis
Rhynchospora megalocarpa
savannah beaksedge
sandyfield beaksedge
erect to arching or spreading, leafy, ± filiform, ± terete, stiff to rather lax.
erect to arching, leafy, trigonous, slender, firm.
exceeded by culm;
blades linearfiliform, proximally shallowly concave, 1 mm, apex tapering, trigonous, blunt or broadly acute.
overtopped by culms;
blades linear, proximally flat, 3–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering.
spikelet clusters 1–2, mostly compact, turbinate to hemispheric; leafy bracts setaceous, exceeding spikelet clusters.
spikelet clusters 2–6, sparse, widely spaced, turbinate;
peduncles and branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeding proximal clusters.
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.
light redbrown, ovoid to ellipsoid, (4–)5–8(–9) mm, apex acute or acuminate;
fertile scales ovate, (5.5–)6–6.5(–7) mm, midrib included or shortexcurrent.
bristles 6 or vestigial, rarely reaching fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 6(–8), mostly reaching from fruit midbody to tubercle base, 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.
1–2 per spikelet, (3.5–)4–5 mm;
body dark brown to mahogany or nearly black, broadly obovoid, tumid, nearly smooth, buttressed to tubercle;
tubercle lowconic, rimmed, 0.7(–1) mm, apex apiculate.
Rhynchospora debilis
Rhynchospora megalocarpa
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.)
The perianth in Rhynchospora megalocarpa is unusual. The receptacular joint is stubby, bearing staggered cycles of bristles that vary extremely in length and number—on a par with R. alba, R. baldwinii, and R. macra in numbers of bristles. The greatest extreme is twelve, the fewest as low as two; usually if the number is low, the remaining sites for bristles will be dark-colored nubbins.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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