Rhynchospora megaplumosa
Rhynchospora solitaria
manatee beaksedge
onespike beaksedge
erect to arching-ascending, leafy, wand-like.
erect to ascending, narrowly linear, wandlike, terete, leafy proximal to middle.
mostly basal, few and increasingly distant upculm, shorter than scape;
blades narrowly linear, concave proximally, (1–)2–3 mm wide, tapering and increasingly involute-sulcate proximally, margins scabrid, apex triquetrous, tip narrow but blunt.
erect to ascending;
blades proximally flat, 2.5–3.5 mm wide, apex tapering, tip abruptly blunt.
clusters 1(–2), if 2 then close together, dense, broadly turbinate to hemispheric;
primary leafy bracts linear, stiff, exceeding clusters.
terminal, cluster of spikelets crowded, broadly turbinate to hemispheric, to 1.5 cm wide; leafy bracts linearsetaceous, slightly exceeding cluster.
light brown, narrowly lanceoloid, 8–10 mm, apex acuminate;
fertile scales lanceolate, convex, (6–)7–8 mm, apex narrowly acute, low midrib short-excurrent or not.
orangebrown, lancefusiform, 6–7 mm, apex acuminate;
fertile scales lanceovate, 4–5 mm, apex acuminate with excurved awn to 1 mm.
perianth bristles 6, excurved, plumose from base to midbristle, 5–7.5 mm, antrorsely barbellate to tip.
bristles 3–4, some reaching tubercle tip, antrorsely barbellate.
1–2 per spikelet, 2.3–2.6 × 1.1–1.2 mm;
body brown, short-stipitate, tumidly obovoid, subterete, 1.8–2 mm, margin low, broad;
surfaces interruptedly transversely wavy-rugulose;
tubercle broadly and concavely conic, 0.5–0.7 mm high, base shallowly 2-lobed, discoid, abruptly narrowed to blunt tip.
1–2 per spikelet, 2–2.1 mm;
body brown with paler center, obovoidlenticular, 1.5–1.7 × 1.2–1.3 mm, margins flowing to tubercle;
surfaces finely transversely striate with minute pits;
tubercle lowtriangular, 0.3–0.5 mm.
Rhynchospora megaplumosa
Rhynchospora solitaria
Of conservation concern.
Rhynchospora megaplumosa is local in central peninsular Florida. It often shares habitat with R. pineticola, and it is taxonomically nearest it in series Plumosae. Distinctive are the longer, paler, narrower spikelets, the longer fertile scales, and perianth bristles of R. megaplumosa. In fact, the perianth bristles of R. megaplumosa are the longest known in the series. While the bristles of all other Plumosae are erect, hugging the achene body, those of R. megaplumosa bend outward so strongly that they push away subtending scales; bristles are conspicuously exposed at maturity.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Rhynchospora solitaria appears to be the least common North American species of Rhynchospora with two of the five given localities apparently lost. The name “solitaria” is deceptive; the plants sometimes form small tufts of culms. The most distinctive feature in the field is the attractive orangebrown color of the narrow, acuminate, bristlescaled spikelets.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
