Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora corniculata
Wright's beaksedge
shortbristle horned beaksedge
slender, ± filiform, leafy, terete to bluntly trigonous.
stiffly erect, leafy, triangular, multiribbed;
principal leaves overtopped by culm;
blades flat, 3–20 mm wide, apex attenuate, 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, diffuse clusters of corymbs, fascicles turbinate to hemispheric;
bracts often overtopping 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.
few to several per cluster, brown or reddish brown, lanceoloid, 10–15 mm, apex narrowly acute;
fertile scales broadly lanceolate, (7.5–)10–13(–14) mm, apex acute, midrib shortexcurrent or not.
bristles 6, of various length, mostly extending from fruit midbody to tubercle base, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 5–6, longest reaching to or slightly beyond fruit midbody, 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.
1(–2) per spikelet, 13–20(–25) mm;
body oblongellipsoid, compressed, 4–5(–6) × 2–3 mm, base narrowed, short, margins thickened, often crimped, surfaces concave, striate, minutely cancellate or pebbled;
tubercle subulate, 2-grooved, 10–15(–20) mm, scabridulous.
= 18.
Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora corniculata
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.)
Specimens of Rhyncospora corniculata with base of the tubercle fully as wide as the fruit and with fruit bodies at the lower length range were treated by M. L. Fernald as R. corniculata var. interior Fernald.
The percent of fruit with crimped margins in Rhynchospora corniculata increases westward in the Gulf coastal plain; toward Mexico it is sympatric with R. indianolensis and R. gigantea, which also have crimped fruit.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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