Rhynchospora fascicularis
Rhynchospora chalarocephala
fascicled beaksedge
loosehead beaksedge
erect to excurvedascending, narrowly linear to ± filiform, terete to obscurely trigonous, leafy, densely so toward base, stiff to rather lax.
erect to ascending-arching, slender, nearly terete, multiribbed.
overtopped by culm;
blades linear, ascending, proximally flat, 1–4 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering gradually.
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 3–7, widely spaced, clusters loosely turbinate to hemispheric, to 1.3 cm wide.
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.
brown to pale red-brown, lance-fusiform, 3–5.5 mm;
fertile scales elliptic, 2.5–4 mm, acute, midrib short-excurrent.
bristles 5–6, from rudimentary to reaching tubercle tip, or (rarely) beyond, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 6, ± equaling tubercle.
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.
1 per spikelet, (2.5–)2.7–3.3(–3.5) mm, body pale brown with yellowish center, ± broadly oblong-obovoid distal to stipe, lenticular, 1.5–2 × 0.8–1 mm;
tubercle narrowly triangularsubulate, (1–)1.2–1.5(–2) mm, less than 0.5 mm wide at base.
leaves exceeded by culm;
blades flat, linear, 1–2 mm wide, apex tapering, trigonous.
Rhynchospora fascicularis
Rhynchospora chalarocephala
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.)
Some specimens of Rhynchospora chalarocephala are very difficult to distinguish from R. microcephala, and unquestionably intergrades occur in peninsular Florida and the Gulf southern coastal plain. Rhynchospora chalarocephala tends to have longer, paler, narrower spikelets in looser clusters; the dilated part of the fruit body has a narrower, more oblong outline; and the tubercle is both narrower with a narrower base and longer (mostly 1–1.5 mm versus 0.9–1.2 mm in R. micro-cephala). Most material is easily sorted because R. chalarocephala has paler spikelets in turbinate to hemispheric clusters; the dark brown spikelets of R. microcephala are in globose heads.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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