Rhynchospora harperi |
Rhynchospora baldwinii |
|
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Harper's beaksedge |
Baldwin's beaksedge |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, solitary or cespitose, 50–70 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 40–100 cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect to excurved, leafybased, narrowly linear, ± terete. |
stiffly erect to ascending, linear, leafy toward base, sharply trigonous, angles scabrid. |
Leaves | shorter than culm; blades ascending, narrowly linear, proximally flat or margins slightly involute, 0.5–1(–2) mm wide, distally canaliculate, apex trigonous, tapering, subulate. |
shorter than culm; basal leaves forming strong rosette, shortlinear, flat, 3–5 mm wide, distal more widely spaced, narrower, apex shortacuminate, trigonous. |
Inflorescences | spikelet clusters 1–3, laterals 0–2, all turbinate to hemispheric, terminal internode usually excurved; leafy bracts setaceous, overtopping inflorescence. |
spikelet clusters 1(–2), if 2 then closely set; terminal cluster mostly dense, hemispheric; proximalmost leafy bract subulate, much exceeding clusters. |
Spikelets | redbrown, lanceoloid, 5–7 mm, apex acute; fertile scales lanceolate, (2.5–)4–5 mm, apex acute to acuminate; midrib paralleled by several indistinct ribs, excurrent as short awns. |
dark redbrown, ovoid, (4–)5–6 mm, apex acute; fertile scales ovate, mostly 4–4.5 mm, apex excurvedcuspidate. |
Flowers | bristles 6, reaching from mid tubercle to beyond tip. |
bristles 12, reaching to or slightly beyond tubercle tip, antrorsely barbellate. |
Fruits | 3(–4) per spikelet, 2.1–2.5 mm; stipe and receptacle 0.2–0.3 mm, sparsely setose and setulose; body glossy, brown with pale center, obovoid-lenticular, 1.1–1.5 × 1–1.1 mm, surfaces finely longitudinally lined, variably low papillatecancellate, also often transversely with wavy lines of dark dots; tubercle flattened, triangular-subulate, (0.8–)0.9–1(–1.1) mm, setulose-ciliate. |
1–2 per spikelet, 3–3.5(–3.7) mm; body dark brown with paler center, dull, broadly ellipsoid-lenticular, 2–2.5 × 1.8–2 mm, smooth, margins flowing to tubercle; tubercle flat, concavely triangular, 0.7–1(–1.2) mm. |
Rhynchospora harperi |
Rhynchospora baldwinii |
|
Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall. | Fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of bogs, stream banks, edges of pineland savanna ponds, Hypericum ponds | Sandy peats in low savannas, pine flatwoods, seeps, and bogs |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; DE; FL; GA; MD; MS; NC; SC; Central America (Belize)
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AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC |
Discussion | Rhynchospora harperi is most abundant in a very special habitat referred to here as the “Hypericum pond.” These are typically shallow ponds in pine savannas, frequently ringed by stands of Nyssa, Taxodium, Ilex, and Cyrilla, but most of the pond itself is dominated by one or more myriandrous shrubby Hypericum species. Here R. harperi is distinguished from other species by the often abrupt bend of its ultimate internode. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 233. | FNA vol. 23, p. 237. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. fascicularis var. harperi, R. leptorhyncha | Phaeocephalum baldwinii |
Name authority | Small: Man. S.E. Fl., 182, 1503. (1933) | A. Gray: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 210. (1835) |
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