Scleria reticularis
Scleria baldwinii
netted nutrush, netted nutsedge
Baldwin's nutrush
solitary or in tufts, erect or spreading, slender, (6–)15–50 cm, glabrous or hairy.
stout, 30–90 cm, base smooth or slightly scabrous distally.
sheaths often purple-tinged at base, sometimes somewhat winged, ribbed, glabrous or densely pubescent;
contra-ligules rotund-obtuse, short;
blades linear, flat, often ribbed, obtuse, shorter than or equaling culm, 1–3.5 mm wide, glabrous or occasionally margins and veins abaxially scabrous.
sheaths purple or brownish, tight, smooth or weakly ribbed, narrowly winged, glabrous;
contra-ligules minute, obtuse;
blades linear, keeled, shorter than culms, 1–5 mm wide, rigid, glabrous or slightly scabrous on margins.
axillary and terminal, paniculate;
panicles compact, 8–25 mm, lateral clusters sessile or on short erect peduncles to 20(–90) mm;
bracts subtending inflorescence leaflike, distalmost lateral bract 3/4 as long as to exceeding terminal internode.
1–2 cm;
clusters 1, 5–15 mm wide, each with 3–7 spikelets;
bracts subtending inflorescence awl-shaped, 4–15 cm × 1–4 mm.
bisexual or unisexual; staminate spikelets 2–3 mm, pistillate spikelets 3–4(–5) mm; staminate scales lanceolate; pistillate scales ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate.
bisexual and staminate, 5–10 mm; staminate spikelets many flowered; staminate scales lanceolate, membranous, pistillate scales ovate-acuminate, rigid.
gray or brownish and/or with dark interangular lines and little pubescence, globose to ovoid, 1.5–2 mm, apex umbonate, surface reticulate to completely smooth, somewhat verrucose in some forms, reticulations pubescent with tufts of yellowish hairs;
hypogynium distinctly 3-lobed, lobes ovate-lanceolate, apex obtuse, sometimes emarginate.
dull white or often brownish gray or with dark gray bands, obscurely trigonous, ovoid-globose, 3–4 mm, smooth, often ribbed, base without pores, sides concave between angles, distinctly trigonous, pointed, apex conspicuously mucronate;
hypogynium obsolete, reduced to small brownish ring just distal to pointed base.
Scleria reticularis
Scleria baldwinii
Scleria reticularis is a smaller plant and less widely distributed than S. muehlenbergii. In addition to the difference noted in the key, S. reticularis differs from S. muehlenbergii in having the lobe of the hypogynium obtuse and emarginate at the apex rather than obtuse to acute, the terminal internode of the stem usually 3–8 cm rather than 6–30 cm, and scales of pistillate flowers mostly 3–4 mm rather than 4–5 mm.
Scleria reticularis is a relatively uniform species throughout its restricted range. It does not occur outside of the United States and is infrequent in the southern portion of its range. The key characters used to separate S. reticularis from S. muehlenbergii apply only to temperate collections.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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