Rhynchospora wrightiana
Wright's beaksedge
slender, ± filiform, leafy, terete to bluntly trigonous.
shorter than culm;
blades spreading to ascending, ± filiform, proximally flat, 0.5–1(–1.5) mm, apex tapering, trigonous.
spikelet clusters 1–3, loose to dense, widely spaced to close together, turbinate to hemispheric; leafy bracts setaceous, mostly exceeding spikelet clusters.
dark redbrown, lanceovoid, 2.5–3.5(–4) mm, apex acute;
fertile scales ovate, 2–3.5 mm, apex acute or acuminate, rarely minutely awned.
bristles 6, of various length, mostly extending from fruit midbody to tubercle base, antrorsely barbellate.
1–2 per spikelet, (2–)2–2.5 mm;
body brown with pale center, lenticular, broadly ellipsoid, 1.5–1.7 × 1.2–1.3 mm, surfaces nearly smooth or very finely cancellate;
tubercle flat, triangular with short-oblong, blunttipped nose, or triangularsubulate, 0.5–0.8 mm.
Rhynchospora wrightiana
The morphologic boundary between Rhynchospora wrightiana and R. fascicularis (particularly morphs of R. fascicularis referred to R. fascicularis var. distans) is difficult, as recent annotations of the material testify. It is best to consider R. wrightiana as a lower, distinctly filiformleaved entity with darker brown, shorter spikelets and shorter fruit. Kükenthal’s concept of R. wrightiana appears to include a considerable amount of R. fascicularis var. distans.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
