Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora capitellata
Wright's beaksedge
brownish beak-rush, brownish beaksedge, capitate beak rush, rhynchospore à petites têtes
slender, ± filiform, leafy, terete to bluntly trigonous.
arching-ascending, leafy, obtusely trigonous, slender;
principal leaves overtopped by inflorescence;
blades flat, to 3 mm, apex tapering, 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.
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.
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.
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 6, of various length, mostly extending from fruit midbody to tubercle base, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth absent.
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.
(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 wrightiana
Rhynchospora capitellata
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.)
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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