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Tracy's beaksedge

onespike beaksedge

Habit Plants perennial, clonal, to 120 cm; rhizomes scaly, slender, less than 2 mm thick. Plants perennial, solitary or cespitose, 50–60 cm; rhizomes absent.
Culms

erect, leafybased, wandlike, nearly terete, multiribbed.

erect to ascending, narrowly linear, wandlike, terete, leafy proximal to middle.

Leaves

ascending or erect, longest nearly equaling culm;

principal blades linear, involutecylindric, to 3 mm wide, apex tapering, subulate.

erect to ascending;

blades proximally flat, 2.5–3.5 mm wide, apex tapering, tip abruptly blunt.

Inflorescences

terminal, heads 1–4, dense, macelike, 1–1.5 mm thick;

involucral bracts leafy, proximalmost overtopping inflorescence.

terminal, cluster of spikelets crowded, broadly turbinate to hemispheric, to 1.5 cm wide; leafy bracts linearsetaceous, slightly exceeding cluster.

Spikelets

greenish, lanceovoid, 5–6 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales boat-shaped, 5 mm, apex acute to shortacuminate, midrib slightly excurrent or not.

orangebrown, lancefusiform, 6–7 mm, apex acuminate;

fertile scales lanceovate, 4–5 mm, apex acuminate with excurved awn to 1 mm.

Flowers

perianth bristles 6, exceeding fruit body, antrorsely barbellate.

bristles 3–4, some reaching tubercle tip, antrorsely barbellate.

Fruits

1 per spikelet, 6–8(–8.7) mm;

body pale greenbrown, laterally compressed, obcordiform, 2.5–3(–4) mm, margins thick, rounded, not crimped, apex barely exserted, setulose, surfaces nearly plane, minutely cancellate (latticed);

tubercle (style base) linear, angled, 4–6 mm, much narrower than fruit summit, setulose.

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 tracyi

Rhynchospora solitaria

Phenology Fruiting late spring–fall. Fruiting summer–fall.
Habitat Emergent in shallows of cypress domes, marshes and swales, ditches and ponds Sandy peat of depressions in pine flatwoods savannas, edges of hillside bogs
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; West Indies; Central America (Belize)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
GA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Rhynchospora tracyi frequently forms clones extending for acres by means of its long slender rhizomes. Its wandlike, terete, supple culms, and round-capitate clusters of spikelets suggest a rush more than a sedge.

(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.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 207. FNA vol. 23, p. 238.
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. 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. thornei, R. torreyana, 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. stenophylla, R. thornei, R. torreyana, R. tracyi, R. wrightiana
Synonyms Ceratoschoenus capitatus, Phaeocephalum tracyi, Schoenus triceps
Name authority Britton: Trans. New York Acad. Sci. 11: 84. (1892) R. M. Harper: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 468. (1901)
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