Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora miliacea
Wright's beaksedge
millet beaksedge
slender, ± filiform, leafy, terete to bluntly trigonous.
lax, leafy, wandlike, ± terete to obscurely angled, slender.
shorter than culm;
blades spreading to ascending, ± filiform, proximally flat, 0.5–1(–1.5) mm, apex tapering, trigonous.
ascending, exceeded by culms;
blades flat, 4–7(–10) mm wide, apex trigonous, shortacuminate, 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 4–6 or more, equidistant along culm on ascending peduncles, branches capillary, divaricate, clusters loose, diffuse, rounded.
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 brown, ellipsoid to lanceoloid or ovoid, 2.5–3.5 mm, apex acute;
fertile scales ovate, (1.5–)2–3 mm, apex rounded or acute, midrib forming apiculus.
bristles 6, of various length, mostly extending from fruit midbody to tubercle base, antrorsely barbellate.
perianth bristles 6, longest exceeding tubercle, 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.
2–several per spikelet, 1.3–1.5 mm;
body pale brown, broadly obovoid, tumidly biconvex, 1.1–1.2 × 1–1.1 mm;
surfaces transversely sharply wavyrugulose, intervals with vertical, rectangular, shallow alveolae;
tubercle depressedconic, slightly compressed, 0.2–0.3(–0.4) mm, edges setulose.
Rhynchospora wrightiana
Rhynchospora miliacea
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 ultimate branches in Rhynchospora miliacea typically terminate in only one or two spikelets, the scales of which fall quickly, and the exposed fruits look like short miniature strings of beads.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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