Rhynchospora fernaldii |
Rhynchospora miliacea |
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Fernald's beaksedge |
millet beaksedge |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 15–50 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, cespitose, to 150 cm; rhizomes stoloniferous, slender. |
Culms | erect or ascending, slender, leafy proximal to middle, somewhat stiff. |
lax, leafy, wandlike, ± terete to obscurely angled, slender. |
Leaves | overtopped by culm; blades ascending, ± filiform, proximally flat or slightly concave, to 1 mm wide, apex narrowing, trigonous, abruptly blunt. |
ascending, exceeded by culms; blades flat, 4–7(–10) mm wide, apex trigonous, shortacuminate, tapering. |
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 4–6 or more, equidistant along culm on ascending peduncles, branches capillary, divaricate, clusters loose, diffuse, rounded. |
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. |
light brown, ellipsoid to lanceoloid or ovoid, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acute; fertile scales ovate, (1.5–)2–3 mm, apex rounded or acute, midrib forming apiculus. |
Flowers | bristles 6, some reaching to apex of fruit body. |
perianth bristles 6, longest exceeding tubercle, 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. |
2–several per spikelet, 1.3–1.5 mm; body pale brown, broadly obovoid, tumidly biconvex, 1.1–1.2 × 1–1.1 mm; surfaces transversely sharply wavyrugulose, intervals with vertical, rectangular, shallow alveolae; tubercle depressedconic, slightly compressed, 0.2–0.3(–0.4) mm, edges setulose. |
Rhynchospora fernaldii |
Rhynchospora miliacea |
|
Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of low clearings in flatwoods, savannas, and bog edges | Sandy alluvium of swamp forests and gallery forests, low clearings forests |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; MS |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; West Indies
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Discussion | The ultimate branches in Rhynchospora miliacea typically terminate in only one or two spikelets, the scales of which fall quickly, and the exposed fruits look like short miniature strings of beads. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 235. | FNA vol. 23, p. 226. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. fascicularis var. fernaldii | Schoenus miliaceus, Phaeocephalum miliaceum, R. sparsa, Schoenus sparsus |
Name authority | Gale: Rhodora 46: 182, plate 825, figs. 3A, B. (1944) | (Lamarck) A. Gray: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 198. (1835) |
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