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brown beaksedge, rhynchospore brun

Habit Plants perennial, cespitose, 10–50 cm; rhizomes stoloniferous, slender.
Culms

erect to excurved, filiform, leafy, ± terete.

Leaves

shorter than culm;

blades ascending, filiform, proximally to 1.5(–2)mm wide, apex trigonous, tapering, setaceous.

Inflorescences

lateral spikelet clusters (0–)1–2, distant, terminal cluster ellipsoid to broadly turbinate or hemispheric, branches ascending; leafy bracts setaceous, overtopping clusters.

Spikelets

red-brown to deep brown, lanceoloid, (4–)5–6(–7) mm, apex acute;

fertile scales lanceolate, 4–5(–6) mm, apex acuminate, midrib often excurrent as awn.

Flowers

bristles 5–6, longest reaching at least past tubercle base, mostly to tip or beyond, antrorsely barbellate.

Fruits

2(–3) per spikelet, (2.3–)2.5–2.6(–3) mm with pedicellar joint, receptacle, and tubercle;

body lustrous, pale brown to deep brown, obovoid to ellipsoid, lenticular, 1–1.5 × 1 mm, margins narrow, flowing to tubercle;

surfaces longitudinally finely lined, transversely very finely ridged with wavy rows of very narrow, vertical lattices, sometimes also with lines of shallow pits;

tubercle triangularsubulate, (0.7–)1–1.3(–1.5) mm, base lunate, margins setulose proximally.

Rhynchospora fusca

Phenology Fruiting summer–fall.
Habitat Sands and peats of pond shores, bogs, and seeps
Elevation 0–400 m (0–1300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DE; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; PA; RI; VT; WI; NB; NL; NS; ON; QC; SK; Europe
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 23, p. 232.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora
Sibling taxa
R. alba, R. baldwinii, R. brachychaeta, R. breviseta, R. caduca, R. californica, R. capillacea, R. capitellata, R. careyana, R. cephalantha, R. chalarocephala, R. chapmanii, R. ciliaris, R. colorata, R. compressa, R. corniculata, R. crinipes, R. curtissii, R. debilis, R. decurrens, R. divergens, R. elliottii, R. eximia, R. fascicularis, R. fernaldii, R. filifolia, R. floridensis, R. globularis, R. glomerata, R. gracilenta, R. grayi, R. harperi, R. harveyi, R. indianolensis, R. inexpansa, R. inundata, R. knieskernii, R. kunthii, R. latifolia, R. macra, R. macrostachya, R. megalocarpa, R. megaplumosa, R. microcarpa, R. microcephala, R. miliacea, R. mixta, R. nitens, R. nivea, R. odorata, R. oligantha, R. pallida, R. perplexa, R. pineticola, R. pleiantha, R. plumosa, R. punctata, R. pusilla, R. rariflora, R. recognita, R. scirpoides, R. solitaria, R. stenophylla, R. thornei, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
Synonyms Schoenus fuscus, Phaeocephalum fuscum, R. alba var. fusca
Name authority (Linnaeus) W. T. Aiton: in W. Aiton and W. T. Aiton, Hortus Kew. 1: 127. (1810)
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