Rhynchospora solitaria
Rhynchospora capitellata
onespike beaksedge
brownish beak-rush, brownish beaksedge, capitate beak rush, rhynchospore à petites têtes
erect to ascending, narrowly linear, wandlike, terete, leafy proximal to middle.
arching-ascending, leafy, obtusely trigonous, slender;
principal leaves overtopped by inflorescence;
blades flat, to 3 mm, apex tapering, trigonous.
erect to ascending;
blades proximally flat, 2.5–3.5 mm wide, apex tapering, tip abruptly blunt.
terminal, cluster of spikelets crowded, broadly turbinate to hemispheric, to 1.5 cm wide; leafy bracts linearsetaceous, slightly exceeding cluster.
terminal and axillary, clusters 1–5 or more, compact, turbinate or hemispheric, 1–1.5 cm wide;
peduncles progressively shorter distally on culm;
bracteal leaves mostly exceeding subtended compounds.
orangebrown, lancefusiform, 6–7 mm, apex acuminate;
fertile scales lanceovate, 4–5 mm, apex acuminate with excurved awn to 1 mm.
rich deep brown, rarely pale brown, lanceellipsoid, 3.5–4(–5) mm;
fertile scale elliptic, 2.7–3 mm, apex acute or rounded, midrib shortexcurrent or not.
bristles 3–4, some reaching tubercle tip, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth absent.
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.
(1–)2–3(–5) per spikelet, (2–)2.5–3 mm;
body redbrown with pale central disc, stipitate, lenticular, obovoid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.7–1(–1.2) mm, margins pale, wirelike, surfaces slick;
tubercle triangular-subulate, (0.8–)1–1.2(–1.6) mm.
Rhynchospora solitaria
Rhynchospora capitellata
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.)
Rhynchospora capitellata occurs infrequently in the lower Gulf coastal plain (in Florida, only north) and intergrades with R. glomerata. Forms with antrorsely barbellate bristles are referred to forma controversa (S. F. Blake) Gale; those with smooth bristles are named forma discutiens (C. B. Clarke) Gale (S. Gale 1944). Occasional forms with trigonous fruits occur.
Bruce Sorrie (pers. comm.) believes that many of the southern coastal plain records for Rhynchospora capitellata are based on examples of a neglected taxon, R. leptocarpa (Chapman) Small (J. K. Small 1933), and he wishes to reinstate it. Occurring in semi-shady moist sites in steepheads, or from seeps and shallows along blackwater streams, the plants are mostly distinguished by the tall, lax habit; the many distant, small clusters of light brown or tan spikelets; and the softer, more lax foliage. Measures of spikelets, fertile scales, perianth, achenes, and fruit tubercles show a strong overlap with those of southern examples of R. capitellata. The long, lax culm habit, the softer and paler foliage, and the paler spikelets could well be ecologic responses, or the plants could indeed represent a geographic variant.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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