Rhynchospora fascicularis |
Rhynchospora nitens |
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fascicled beaksedge |
short-beak beaksedge, shortbeak bald-rush |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–150 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants annual, cespitose or solitary, (10–)20–100 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, leafy, nearly terete or angled, manyribbed. |
Leaves | overtopped by culm; blades linear, ascending, proximally flat, 1–4 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering gradually. |
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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. |
terminal and axillary, clusters of corymbs 1–5, usually diffuse; leafy bracts exceeding proximal corymbs. |
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. |
dark brown, lanceoloid to ovoid, mostly 4–6(–8) mm, apex acute; fertile scales many, ovate, rounded-convex, 2–3.5 mm, apex acute, midrib mostly included, rarely forming apiculus. |
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. |
1–1.3(–1.5) mm, body dark brown, tumidly lenticular, nearly orbicular, 0.7–1 × 0.7–1 mm, margins strong, interrupted at tubercle base; surfaces irregularly transversely rugulose with wavy rows of vertical, linear, raised cells; tubercle depressed-triangular, 0.1–0.3 mm, capping fruit summit, base broadly 2lobed. |
Principal | midculm leaves often exceeding inflorescences; blades linear, proximally flattened, 1–5 mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering. |
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Rhynchospora fascicularis |
Rhynchospora nitens |
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Phenology | Fruiting late spring–fall or all year (south). | Fruiting summer–fall or all year. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of interdunal swales, depressions in savannas, open flatwoods, and seep-bog edges | Moist to wet sands or peats of stream banks, pond shores, depressions in savannas, marshes |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Central America; Bermuda
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AL; DE; FL; GA; IN; LA; MA; MI; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TX; VA; Central America; West Indies
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 239. | FNA vol. 23, p. 217. |
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 | Scirpus nitens, Isolepis nitens, Psilocarya nitens, Psilocarya rhynchosporoides |
Name authority | (Michaux) Vahl: Enum. Pl. 2: 234. (1805) | (Vahl) A. Gray: Manual ed. 5, 568. (1867) |
Web links |