Rhynchospora odorata |
Rhynchospora corniculata |
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fragrant beaksedge |
shortbristle horned beaksedge |
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Habit | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–180 cm; rhizomes often present, short, scaly. | Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–150(–200) cm, coarse; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | erect to ascending, leafy, slender, angular. |
stiffly erect, leafy, triangular, multiribbed; principal leaves overtopped by culm; blades flat, 3–20 mm wide, apex attenuate, trigonous. |
Leaves | exceeded by culm; blades linear, proximally flat, 3–6 mm wide, apex tapering, trigonous, subulate. |
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Inflorescences | of terminal and axillary clusters, 3–5, proximalmost widely spaced, turbinate or lobed, fascicles dense, branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeding all but proximalmost clusters. |
terminal and axillary, diffuse clusters of corymbs, fascicles turbinate to hemispheric; bracts often overtopping clusters. |
Spikelets | rich redbrown, ovoid, (4–)5–6(–7) mm, apex acuminate; fertile scales ovate, (3.5–)4–5 mm, apex acuminate, midrib short or longexcurrent. |
few to several per cluster, brown or reddish brown, lanceoloid, 10–15 mm, apex narrowly acute; fertile scales broadly lanceolate, (7.5–)10–13(–14) mm, apex acute, midrib shortexcurrent or not. |
Flowers | perianth bristles 6, reaching past tubercle, antrorsely barbellate. |
perianth bristles 5–6, longest reaching to or slightly beyond fruit midbody, antrorsely barbellate. |
Fruits | mostly 3–4(–7) per spikelet, 3 mm with pedicellar joint and tubercle; body pale yellowbrown, obovoidlenticular, 1.4–1.7 × 1.4 × 1.5; surfaces transversely finely wavyrugulose, intervals vertically rectangularalveolate; pedicellar joint 0.3–0.6 mm; tubercle compressed, triangularacuminate, 0.5–0.6 (–1) mm, margin setulose. |
1(–2) per spikelet, 13–20(–25) mm; body oblongellipsoid, compressed, 4–5(–6) × 2–3 mm, base narrowed, short, margins thickened, often crimped, surfaces concave, striate, minutely cancellate or pebbled; tubercle subulate, 2-grooved, 10–15(–20) mm, scabridulous. |
2n | = 18. |
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Rhynchospora odorata |
Rhynchospora corniculata |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall or all year (south). | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of swamps, marshes, interdunal swales, low meadows, savannas | Swamps, marshes, and shallows, mostly in basic to circumneutral, silty or muddy open sites |
Elevation | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; NC; SC; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica)
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AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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Discussion | Specimens of Rhyncospora corniculata with base of the tubercle fully as wide as the fruit and with fruit bodies at the lower length range were treated by M. L. Fernald as R. corniculata var. interior Fernald. The percent of fruit with crimped margins in Rhynchospora corniculata increases westward in the Gulf coastal plain; toward Mexico it is sympatric with R. indianolensis and R. gigantea, which also have crimped fruit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 223. | FNA vol. 23, p. 209. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora | Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Phaeocephalum stipitatum, R. stipitata | Schoenus corniculatus, Ceratoschoenus corniculatus, Ceratoschoenus longirostris, R. corniculata var. interior, Schoenus longirostris |
Name authority | C. Wright ex Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 242. (1866) | (Lamarck) A. Gray: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 205. (1835) |
Web links |