The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

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
from FNA
AL; DE; FL; GA; MD; MS; NC; SC; Central America (Belize)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC
[BONAP county map]
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
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. fusca, R. globularis, R. glomerata, R. gracilenta, R. grayi, 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
R. alba, 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. fusca, 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 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)
Web links