Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora megalocarpa
Wright's beaksedge
sandyfield beaksedge
slender, ± filiform, leafy, terete to bluntly trigonous.
erect to arching, leafy, trigonous, slender, firm.
shorter than culm;
blades spreading to ascending, ± filiform, proximally flat, 0.5–1(–1.5) mm, apex tapering, trigonous.
overtopped by culms;
blades linear, proximally flat, 3–7 mm wide, apex trigonous, subulate, tapering.
spikelet clusters 1–3, loose to dense, widely spaced to close together, turbinate to hemispheric; leafy bracts setaceous, mostly exceeding spikelet clusters.
spikelet clusters 2–6, sparse, widely spaced, turbinate;
peduncles and branches ascending; leafy bracts exceeding proximal 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.
light redbrown, ovoid to ellipsoid, (4–)5–8(–9) mm, apex acute or acuminate;
fertile scales ovate, (5.5–)6–6.5(–7) mm, midrib included or shortexcurrent.
bristles 6, of various length, mostly extending from fruit midbody to tubercle base, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 6(–8), mostly reaching 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.
1–2 per spikelet, (3.5–)4–5 mm;
body dark brown to mahogany or nearly black, broadly obovoid, tumid, nearly smooth, buttressed to tubercle;
tubercle lowconic, rimmed, 0.7(–1) mm, apex apiculate.
Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora megalocarpa
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.)
The perianth in Rhynchospora megalocarpa is unusual. The receptacular joint is stubby, bearing staggered cycles of bristles that vary extremely in length and number—on a par with R. alba, R. baldwinii, and R. macra in numbers of bristles. The greatest extreme is twelve, the fewest as low as two; usually if the number is low, the remaining sites for bristles will be dark-colored nubbins.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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