Rhynchospora fascicularis |
Rhynchospora divergens |
|
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fascicled beaksedge |
spreading beaksedge |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–150 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, densely cespitose, 10–60 cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect to excurvedascending, narrowly linear to ± filiform, terete to obscurely trigonous, leafy, densely so toward base, stiff to rather lax. |
erect or spreadingarching, linearfiliform, terete, leafy toward base. |
Leaves | overtopped by culm; blades linear, ascending, proximally flat, 1–4 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering gradually. |
overtopped by culm; blades ascending, filiform, 0.3–0.5 mm wide, margins deeply involute, then channeled, apex trigonous, setaceous. |
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 1–2(–4), dense(–open), narrowly to broadly turbinate; branches capillary, variously elongate; leafy bracts setaceous, proximal exceeding clusters. |
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. |
brownish, lanceellipsoid to fusiform, 2–2.5(–3) mm, apex acute; fertile scales broadly elliptic, 1.5 mm, apex narrowly rounded to broadly acute, apiculate, convexcupulate, midrib narrow, shortexcurrent or included. |
Flowers | bristles 5–6, from rudimentary to reaching tubercle tip, or (rarely) beyond, antrorsely barbellate. |
perianth absent. |
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. |
1–3 or more per spikelet, (0.6–)0.7–0.9(–1) mm; body pale, glassy, obovoidlenticular, 0.6–0.7 × 0.4–0.5 mm, margins narrow, wirelike; surfaces finely striate, very finely reticulate; tubercle button depressedtriangular or patelliform, 0.1–0.15 mm, apiculate. |
Rhynchospora fascicularis |
Rhynchospora divergens |
|
Phenology | Fruiting late spring–fall or all year (south). | Fruiting summer–fall or all year (south). |
Habitat | Sands and peats of interdunal swales, depressions in savannas, open flatwoods, and seep-bog edges | Moist sands, peats, silts or clays of low meadows, bogs, flatwoods, sometimes seeps over calcareous rock |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–300 m (0–1000 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Central America; Bermuda
|
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Central America; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic) |
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.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 239. | FNA vol. 23, p. 220. |
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 | |
Name authority | (Michaux) Vahl: Enum. Pl. 2: 234. (1805) | Chapman ex M. A. Curtis: Amer. J. Sci. Arts, ser. 2, 7: 409. (1849) |
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