Rhynchospora miliacea
Rhynchospora oligantha
millet beaksedge
featherbristle beaksedge
lax, leafy, wandlike, ± terete to obscurely angled, slender.
filiform, leafy at base, wiry.
ascending, exceeded by culms;
blades flat, 4–7(–10) mm wide, apex trigonous, shortacuminate, tapering.
ascending to erect;
blades filiform, nearly terete, or channeled, sometimes compressed, nearly reaching distal inflorescence or much shorter, 0.2–0.3 mm thick, apex subulate.
spikelet clusters 4–6 or more, equidistant along culm on ascending peduncles, branches capillary, divaricate, clusters loose, diffuse, rounded.
spikelet clusters 2–6, simple or reduced to 1 spikelet, branches ascending to divaricate or reflexed; leafy bracts single per cluster, filiform, setaceous, with clusters appearing lateral to bracts.
light brown, ellipsoid to lanceoloid or ovoid, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acute;
fertile scales ovate, (1.5–)2–3 mm, apex rounded or acute, midrib forming apiculus.
pale redbrown, ellipsoidlanceoloid, 5–6(–8) mm, apex acute to acuminate;
fertile scales oblongelliptic, convex, acuminate, 3.5–5 mm, apex broadly acute, midrib forming apiculus.
perianth bristles 6, longest exceeding tubercle, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 6, reaching to or slightly past tubercle base, increasingly plumose from middle to base.
2–several per spikelet, 1.3–1.5 mm;
body pale brown, broadly obovoid, tumidly biconvex, 1.1–1.2 × 1–1.1 mm;
surfaces transversely sharply wavyrugulose, intervals with vertical, rectangular, shallow alveolae;
tubercle depressedconic, slightly compressed, 0.2–0.3(–0.4) mm, edges setulose.
1–3 per spikelet, (2.5–)2.7–3(–3.4) mm;
body light brown to brown, ellipsoidobovoid, distally conspicuously necked, tumidly lenticular, 1.7–2.5 × 1.5–1.8 mm;
surfaces smooth or minutely transversely rugulose;
tubercle conicsubulate, 0.5–0.7 mm, base flaring.
Rhynchospora miliacea
Rhynchospora oligantha
The ultimate branches in Rhynchospora miliacea typically terminate in only one or two spikelets, the scales of which fall quickly, and the exposed fruits look like short miniature strings of beads.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Rhynchospora oligantha is distinguished from other taxa of its complex mostly by the distinctive neck at the achene apex, a feature essentially absent in R. breviseta, its closest relative. Those two species have been heavily impacted by conversion of pine savannas to cropland or pine plantations; even with abandonment or clearing of such land, they are very slow to reoccupy the disturbed sites.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
