Rhynchospora harperi |
Rhynchospora recognita |
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Harper's beaksedge |
globe beaksedge |
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Habit | Plants perennial, solitary or cespitose, 50–70 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 60–100(–120) cm; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect to excurved, leafybased, narrowly linear, ± terete. |
leafiest at base, trigonous, slender, somewhat stiff. |
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. |
exceeded by culms; basal blades spreading, blunt, distal ascending, linear, proximally flat, 2–5 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering. |
Inflorescences | spikelet clusters 1–3, laterals 0–2, all turbinate to hemispheric, terminal internode usually excurved; leafy bracts setaceous, overtopping inflorescence. |
spikelet clusters 3–5 or more, compact, proximalmost widely spaced, turbinate to hemispheric or lobed; peduncles ascending, branches ascending; leafy bracts setaceous at apex, exceeding compounds, setaceous bracts often exceeding ultimate clusters, imparting bristly aspect. |
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. |
redbrown, ovoid to lanceoloid, (2.7–)3–4 mm, apex acuminate; fertile scales ovate, 2.5–3 mm, apex acute, shortacuminate, or notched, midrib usually excurrent as cusp or awn. |
Flowers | bristles 6, reaching from mid tubercle to beyond tip. |
perianth bristles 6, not reaching further than fruit midbody. |
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. |
1–3 per spikelet, (1.8–)2–2.3(–2.5) mm; body brown, tumidly lenticular, obovoid to suborbicular, 1.4–1.6(–1.8) × 1.2–1.5 mm; surfaces transversely sharply rugose, intervals of rows of vertical, variously rectangular alveolae; tubercle somewhat compressed, triangular to shortconic, 0.5–0.7 mm, shortsubulate, basal rim often present. |
Rhynchospora harperi |
Rhynchospora recognita |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall. | Fruiting spring–summer(–early fall). |
Habitat | Sands and peats of bogs, stream banks, edges of pineland savanna ponds, Hypericum ponds | Sands, silts, clays, and peats of low meadows, ditches, low clearings, savannas |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; DE; FL; GA; MD; MS; NC; SC; Central America (Belize)
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AL; AR; CA; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; Central America; West Indies
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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.) |
Rhynchospora recognita has larger fruit and tubercles than is consistent with the varietal rank it has held under R. globularis. The two are often observed in the same locality, and in such cases, R. recognita is taller, stiffer, broader leaved, with spikelet clusters wider, denser, and bristlier, and with distinct orange tints in comparison with the darker, less dense, narrower, and less bristly spikelet clusters of plants of R. globularis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 233. | FNA vol. 23, p. 225. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. fascicularis var. harperi, R. leptorhyncha | R. globularis var. recognita, Dichromena cymosa, Phaeocephalum cymosum |
Name authority | Small: Man. S.E. Fl., 182, 1503. (1933) | (Gale) Kral: Novon 9: 205. (1999) |
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