Rhynchospora fernaldii |
Rhynchospora fascicularis |
|
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Fernald's beaksedge |
fascicled beaksedge |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 15–50 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–150 cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect or ascending, slender, leafy proximal to middle, somewhat stiff. |
erect to excurvedascending, narrowly linear to ± filiform, terete to obscurely trigonous, leafy, densely so toward base, stiff to rather lax. |
Leaves | overtopped by culm; blades ascending, ± filiform, proximally flat or slightly concave, to 1 mm wide, apex narrowing, trigonous, abruptly blunt. |
overtopped by culm; blades linear, ascending, proximally flat, 1–4 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering gradually. |
Inflorescences | spikelet clusters 1–2, if 2 then close together, dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric or even globose; primary leafy bract setaceous, exceeding clusters. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Flowers | bristles 6, some reaching to apex of fruit body. |
bristles 5–6, from rudimentary to reaching tubercle tip, or (rarely) beyond, 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. |
1–3 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. |
Rhynchospora fernaldii |
Rhynchospora fascicularis |
|
Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall. | Fruiting late spring–fall or all year (south). |
Habitat | Sands and peats of low clearings in flatwoods, savannas, and bog edges | Sands and peats of interdunal swales, depressions in savannas, open flatwoods, and seep-bog edges |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; MS |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Central America; Bermuda
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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.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 235. | FNA vol. 23, p. 239. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. fascicularis var. fernaldii | Schoenus fascicularis, Dichromena distans, Phaeocephalum fasciculare, Phaeocephalum distans, R. distans, R. distans var. fascicularis, R. dommucensis, R. fascicularis var. distans, Schoenus distans |
Name authority | Gale: Rhodora 46: 182, plate 825, figs. 3A, B. (1944) | (Michaux) Vahl: Enum. Pl. 2: 234. (1805) |
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