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Florida beaksedge

Habit Plants perennial or annual, single or cespitose, (10–)20–50 cm; rhizomes absent. Plants perennial, densely cespitose, 15–50(–60) cm; rhizomes absent.
Culms

spreading to erect, leafy, obtusely triangular.

erect or arching, leafy toward base, filiform, terete, wiry.

Leaves

often exceeding inflorescences;

blades narrowly linear, proximally flat, 1–3 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering.

overtopped by culm;

blades linear to filiform, channeled, 0.3–0.5 mm wide, margins deeply involute, apex setaceous.

Inflorescences

terminal and axillary, clusters of 1–5 corymbs; leafy bracts much exceeding corymbs.

spikelet clusters 1–2(–3), dense to open, narrowly to broadly turbinate;

branches capillary, variously elongate; leafy bracts setaceous, equaling or exceeding clusters.

Spikelets

few to several, on ascending, stiff, short-to-elongate branches, red-brown to brown, lanceoloid, (5–)6–10 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales many, ovate, shallowly convex, 5 mm, apex acuminate;

midrib short-excurrent or not.

variously brown, ellipsoid, 2–3 mm, apex sharply acute;

fertile scales ovate to nearly orbiculate, rounded, 1.2–1.8 mm, apiculate, convexcupulate, midrib slender, mostly included.

Flowers

perianth absent.

perianth absent.

Fruits

1.5 mm;

body dark brown to black, tumidly lenticular, nearly orbicular, 0.8–0.9 × 0.6–0.7 mm, margins grooved, discontinuous with tubercle;

surfaces transversely wavyrugose, ridges of contiguous rows of vertical, linear, raised cells;

tubercle broad, low triangular, 0.2–0.3 mm, crustaceous, base capping fruit summit, raised at ends, apex shortacuminate.

2–3 per spikelet, 0.7–0.9(–1) mm;

body pale, obovoid-lenticular, (0.5–)0.6–0.9 × 0.4–0.5 mm, margin wirelike;

surfaces transversely rugulose;

tubercle buttonlike, depressed triangular, 0.05–0.1 mm, base lunate atop rounded fruit body.

Rhynchospora eximia

Rhynchospora pusilla

Phenology Fruiting all year. Fruiting summer–fall.
Habitat Moist to wet sandy peaty swales, pond shores, depressions in savannas, moist waste areas Moist sands, peats and silts of low meadows, savannas, bogs, seeps, pond shores
Elevation 0–100[–1000] m (0–300[–3300] ft) 0–300 m (0–1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Africa
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; West Indies
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Rhynchospora eximia is often found at elevations from near sea level to over 1000 m in the tropics.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 216. FNA vol. 23, p. 220.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora
Sibling taxa
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. 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. nitens, R. nivea, R. odorata, R. oligantha, R. pallida, R. perplexa, R. pineticola, R. pleiantha, R. plumosa, R. punctata, R. rariflora, R. recognita, R. scirpoides, R. solitaria, R. stenophylla, R. thornei, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
Synonyms Spermodon eximius, Psilocarya schiedeana, R. oxycephala, R. psilocaroides Phaeocephalum pusillum, R. intermixta
Name authority (Nees) Boeckeler: Linnaea 37: 601. (1873) Chapman ex M. A. Curtis: Amer. J. Sci. Arts, ser. 2, 7: 409. (1849)
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