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fragrant beaksedge

Thorne's beaksedge

Habit Plants perennial, cespitose, 100–180 cm; rhizomes often present, short, scaly. Plants perennial, densely cespitose, 10–20 cm; rhizomes slender, short.
Culms

erect to ascending, leafy, slender, angular.

lax, filiform, leafy.

Leaves

exceeded by culm;

blades linear, proximally flat, 3–6 mm wide, apex tapering, trigonous, subulate.

spreading to ascending, exceeding or exceeded by culm;

blades 0.2–0.3 mm wide, margins strongly involute or channeled, apex trigonous, tapering, setaceous.

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.

cluster of cymes 1–2, widely spaced, turbinate, sparse;

branches few; foliaceous bracts setaceous, longer than cymes.

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.

brown, lanceovoid to fusiform, 2.5–3 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales ovate, 1.5 mm, apex acute, midrib shortexcurrent.

Flowers

perianth bristles 6, reaching past tubercle, antrorsely barbellate.

perianth absent.

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.

0.9–1 mm;

body lustrous pale brown, ellipsoidlenticular, 0.8–0.9 × 0.5–0.6 mm, margins narrow, wirelike;

surfaces minutely reticulate;

bristles 4–6, the longest from shorter than fruit midbody to fully as long, rarely reaching tubercle tip, minutely antrorsely barbellate;

tubercle shortconic, to 0.15 mm.

Rhynchospora odorata

Rhynchospora thornei

Phenology Fruiting summer–fall or all year (south). Fruiting late spring summer.
Habitat Sands and peats of swamps, marshes, interdunal swales, low meadows, savannas Fluctuating shores of limesink ponds, seeps over calcareous rock
Elevation 0–200 m (0–700 ft) 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; NC; SC; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; NC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Rhynchospora thornei, discovered by Robert Thorne from margins of a limesink pond in southwestern Georgia, has been extirpated at that site. Now the taxon is known from several Alabama and Florida locations and was recently found in eastern North Carolina by R. J. LeBlond.

Had S. Gale been sent material of Rhynchospora thornei at the time she was doing her excellent revision, she probably would have treated it as part of her series Rariflorae. Yet without its perianth bristles, R. thornei would be nearly identical to R. divergens and very similar to R. pusilla, both of which belong in subg. Psilocarya. Therefore, it forms an interesting link between subg. Rhynchospora (Eurhynchospora sensu Gale) and subg. Psilocarya.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 223. FNA vol. 23, p. 221.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora Cyperaceae > Rhynchospora
Sibling taxa
R. alba, R. baldwinii, R. brachychaeta, R. breviseta, R. caduca, R. californica, R. capillacea, R. capitellata, R. careyana, R. cephalantha, R. chalarocephala, R. chapmanii, R. ciliaris, R. colorata, R. compressa, R. corniculata, R. crinipes, R. curtissii, R. debilis, R. decurrens, R. divergens, R. elliottii, R. eximia, R. fascicularis, R. fernaldii, R. filifolia, R. floridensis, R. fusca, R. globularis, R. glomerata, R. gracilenta, R. grayi, R. harperi, R. harveyi, R. indianolensis, R. inexpansa, R. inundata, R. knieskernii, R. kunthii, R. latifolia, R. macra, R. macrostachya, R. megalocarpa, R. megaplumosa, R. microcarpa, R. microcephala, R. miliacea, R. mixta, R. nitens, R. nivea, R. oligantha, R. pallida, R. perplexa, R. pineticola, R. pleiantha, R. plumosa, R. punctata, R. pusilla, R. rariflora, R. recognita, R. scirpoides, R. solitaria, R. stenophylla, R. thornei, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
R. alba, R. baldwinii, R. brachychaeta, R. breviseta, R. caduca, R. californica, R. capillacea, R. capitellata, R. careyana, R. cephalantha, R. chalarocephala, R. chapmanii, R. ciliaris, R. colorata, R. compressa, R. corniculata, R. crinipes, R. curtissii, R. debilis, R. decurrens, R. divergens, R. elliottii, R. eximia, R. fascicularis, R. fernaldii, R. filifolia, R. floridensis, R. fusca, R. globularis, R. glomerata, R. gracilenta, R. grayi, R. harperi, R. harveyi, R. indianolensis, R. inexpansa, R. inundata, R. knieskernii, R. kunthii, R. latifolia, R. macra, R. macrostachya, R. megalocarpa, R. megaplumosa, R. microcarpa, R. microcephala, R. miliacea, R. mixta, R. nitens, R. nivea, R. odorata, R. oligantha, R. pallida, R. perplexa, R. pineticola, R. pleiantha, R. plumosa, R. punctata, R. pusilla, R. rariflora, R. recognita, R. scirpoides, R. solitaria, R. stenophylla, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
Synonyms Phaeocephalum stipitatum, R. stipitata
Name authority C. Wright ex Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 242. (1866) Kral: Sida 7: 42, fig. 1. (1977)
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