Rhynchospora harveyi |
Rhynchospora chapmanii |
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Harvey's beaksedge |
Chapman's beaksedge |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 70–110 cm; rhizomes absent. | Plants perennial, densely cespitose, 30–50(–70) cm; rhizomes absent. | ||||
Culms | erect to excurved, leafy, obscurely trigonous, slender. |
erect to excurved, filiform, leafy, stiff to lax. |
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Leaves | spreading to ascending, shorter than culm, crowded toward culm base; blades linear, proximally flat, 1–3 mm wide, gradually involute, apically trigonous, subulate. |
mostly slightly exceeded by culm; blades ± filiform, proximally flat to concave, distally tapering, to 1 mm wide, margins involute, apex trigonous, subulate. |
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Inflorescences | spikelet clusters 1–4, dense to open, mostly irregularly turbinate; peduncles ascending, branches spreading to erect, ultimate branches with many spikelets; leafy bracts setaceoustipped, usually exceeding all clusters, or at least all but the distal. |
terminal; spikelet clusters 1(–2), dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric; longer leafy bracts 1–2(–several), setaceous, overtopping inflorescence. |
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Spikelets | light redbrown or brown, broadly ellipsoid to lanceoloid, 3–4 mm, apex acute to acuminate; fertile scales ovate to obovate or suborbiculate, 2–3.5 mm apex acute to rounded or emarginate, midrib included or exserted as mucro. |
light brown, narrowly ovoid, 2–2.5(–3) mm, apex acute or acuminate; fertile scales 1.5–2(–2.5) mm, apex acute, midrib excurrent as cusp or awn 0.5–0.9 mm. |
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Flowers | perianth bristles mostly 6, rarely reaching fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate. |
bristles absent, rarely reduced to nubbins, or rarely 1, then shorter than fruit body. |
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Fruits | mostly 1 per spikelet, 2–2.5 mm, body dark brown, obovoid to subglobose, tumid or lenticular, 1.5–1.7 mm, transversely finely rugose to nearly level, intervals with very small, pitlike alveoli. |
1 per spikelet, 1–1.8 mm; body with dark brown ends, broad pale midzone, lenticular, ± orbicular, 1–1.2 × 0.8–1 mm, surfaces smooth; margins sharp, flowing to tubercle; tubercle lowtriangular, 0.2–0.3(–0.5) mm, sometimes apiculate. |
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Rhynchospora harveyi |
Rhynchospora chapmanii |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall; | |||||
Elevation | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; KS; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; se United States; Midwestern |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Rhynchospora chapmanii is a frequent invader of logged or otherwise disturbed pine savannas, often an aspect dominant. Its pale inflorescences are conspicuous masses in autumn. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 231. | FNA vol. 23, p. 234. | ||||
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Phaeocephalum chapmanii | |||||
Name authority | W. Boott: Bot. Gaz. 9: 85. (1884) | M. A. Curtis: Amer. J. Sci. Arts, ser. 2, 7: 409. (1849) | ||||
Web links |