Rhynchospora fascicularis |
Rhynchospora breviseta |
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fascicled beaksedge |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–150 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, densely cespitose, knottybased, 20–40 cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect to excurvedascending, narrowly linear to ± filiform, terete to obscurely trigonous, leafy, densely so toward base, stiff to rather lax. |
leafy at base, filiform, wiry. |
Leaves | overtopped by culm; blades linear, ascending, proximally flat, 1–4 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering gradually. |
blades filiform, nearly reaching inflorescence tip or much shorter, to 0.3 mm thick, apex tapering. |
Inflorescences | spikelet clusters 1–3(–4), proximal mostly widely spaced, dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric, to 2 cm broad; leafy bracts subulate, exceeding proximal spikelets, slightly or not exceeding most distal clusters. |
spikelet clusters mostly 2–6, simple or reduced to 1 spikelet, often with 2 capillary branches, one divaricate or reflexed, 1 ascending; leafy bracts single per cluster, filiform, setaceous, with clusters appearing lateral to bracts. |
Spikelets | redbrown, narrowly ovoid, (3–)3.5–5 mm, apex acute; fertile scales ovate, 3–3.5(–4) mm, apex acute, mostly with cusp or mucro 0.5–1 mm. |
pale redbrown, ellipsoidlanceoloid, 5–6(–8) mm, apex acute to acuminate; fertile scales narrowly ovate, 3–5(–6) mm, apex acute, midrib included or shortexcurrent. |
Flowers | bristles 5–6, from rudimentary to reaching tubercle tip, or (rarely) beyond, antrorsely barbellate. |
perianth bristles 6, not reaching past fruit midbody, stubby, plumose to near tip. |
Fruits | 1–3 per spikelet, (1.5–)2–2.2(–2.5) mm; body dark brown with pale center, lenticular, broadly ellipsoid to ± orbicular, (1.3–)1.5–1.7(–1.9) × 1–1.5 mm, margins pale, narrow or narrowly rounded, flowing to tubercle; surfaces dull, minutely longitudinally striate; tubercle compressed, triangular to triangularsubulate, 0.5–0.7(–0.9) mm. |
3–8 per spikelet, 2–2.5 mm; body light brown to brown, ellipsoid-obovoid, tumidly lenticular, 1.5–2 × 1.6–1.7 mm; surfaces faintly, interruptedly crossrugulose, apically indented under tubercle; tubercle lowconic, 0.5 mm, base flaring, circular. |
Rhynchospora fascicularis |
Rhynchospora breviseta |
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Phenology | Fruiting late spring–fall or all year (south). | Fruiting spring–summer. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of interdunal swales, depressions in savannas, open flatwoods, and seep-bog edges | Moist to wet sands or peats of bogs, depressions in savannas, open pinelands, pond shores |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Central America; Bermuda
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AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; VA; West Indies |
Discussion | In her revision, S. Gale (1944) treated var. distans as the more slender version of the species, one with a smaller inflorescence, more distinctly margined fruit body, and consistently elongate perianth bristles. All those character states appear to vary independently over the total range of the species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Rhynchospora breviseta is sympatric with R. oligantha over much of its range; intergrades have not been seen. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 239. | FNA vol. 23. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Schoenus fascicularis, Dichromena distans, Phaeocephalum fasciculare, Phaeocephalum distans, R. distans, R. distans var. fascicularis, R. dommucensis, R. fascicularis var. distans, Schoenus distans | R. oligantha var. breviseta |
Name authority | (Michaux) Vahl: Enum. Pl. 2: 234. (1805) | (Gale) Channell: Rhodora 58: 336. (1956) |
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