Rhynchospora fernaldii |
Rhynchospora corniculata |
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Fernald's beaksedge |
shortbristle horned beaksedge |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 15–50 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–150(–200) cm, coarse; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect or ascending, slender, leafy proximal to middle, somewhat stiff. |
stiffly erect, leafy, triangular, multiribbed; principal leaves overtopped by culm; blades flat, 3–20 mm wide, apex attenuate, trigonous. |
Leaves | overtopped by culm; blades ascending, ± filiform, proximally flat or slightly concave, to 1 mm wide, apex narrowing, trigonous, abruptly blunt. |
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Inflorescences | spikelet clusters 1–2, if 2 then close together, dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric or even globose; primary leafy bract setaceous, exceeding clusters. |
terminal and axillary, diffuse clusters of corymbs, fascicles turbinate to hemispheric; bracts often overtopping clusters. |
Spikelets | redbrown, ovoid, 2–2.5(–4) mm, apex acute; fertile scales broadly ovate, 1.5–1.9(–2) mm, apex acute to acuminate, midrib excurrent as awn to 0.5 mm. |
few to several per cluster, brown or reddish brown, lanceoloid, 10–15 mm, apex narrowly acute; fertile scales broadly lanceolate, (7.5–)10–13(–14) mm, apex acute, midrib shortexcurrent or not. |
Flowers | bristles 6, some reaching to apex of fruit body. |
perianth bristles 5–6, longest reaching to or slightly beyond fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate. |
Fruits | 2–3 per spikelet, 1–1.2(–1.4) mm; body dull dark brown with paler brown center, lenticular, broadly obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 1 × 0.8 mm, margins narrow, flowing to tubercle; tubercle nearly equilaterally triangular, 0.2–0.3 mm. |
1(–2) per spikelet, 13–20(–25) mm; body oblongellipsoid, compressed, 4–5(–6) × 2–3 mm, base narrowed, short, margins thickened, often crimped, surfaces concave, striate, minutely cancellate or pebbled; tubercle subulate, 2-grooved, 10–15(–20) mm, scabridulous. |
2n | = 18. |
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Rhynchospora fernaldii |
Rhynchospora corniculata |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of low clearings in flatwoods, savannas, and bog edges | Swamps, marshes, and shallows, mostly in basic to circumneutral, silty or muddy open sites |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; MS |
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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Discussion | Specimens of Rhyncospora corniculata with base of the tubercle fully as wide as the fruit and with fruit bodies at the lower length range were treated by M. L. Fernald as R. corniculata var. interior Fernald. The percent of fruit with crimped margins in Rhynchospora corniculata increases westward in the Gulf coastal plain; toward Mexico it is sympatric with R. indianolensis and R. gigantea, which also have crimped fruit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 235. | FNA vol. 23, p. 209. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. fascicularis var. fernaldii | Schoenus corniculatus, Ceratoschoenus corniculatus, Ceratoschoenus longirostris, R. corniculata var. interior, Schoenus longirostris |
Name authority | Gale: Rhodora 46: 182, plate 825, figs. 3A, B. (1944) | (Lamarck) A. Gray: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 205. (1835) |
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