Scleria reticularis
Scleria distans
netted nutrush, netted nutsedge
solitary or in tufts, erect or spreading, slender, (6–)15–50 cm, glabrous or hairy.
erect, slender, 15–65(–75) cm, hairy or glabrous.
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 green to brownish or reddish, not or scarcely winged, weakly ribbed, hirsute or glabrous;
contra-ligule minute, obtuse, or absent;
blades linear, ribbed, usually much shorter than inflorescences, 1.5–4(–5) mm wide, pubescent or more rarely glabrous.
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.
terminal, unbranched, glomerate-spicate, 4–8(–12) cm;
glomerules 3–9(–11), inserted in longitudinal concavities in rachis, open, nodding or reflexed, greenish to reddish brown, 4–7 mm wide, each with 2–7(–8) spikelets;
bract occasionally subtending proximalmost glomerule, attenuate, 1–2.5 cm.
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, 4–5 mm; staminate spikelets many flowered; staminate scales lance-acuminate, pistillate scales ovate-acuminate.
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.
sordid white or gray, trigonous, ovoid to subglobose, 1–2 mm, smooth, shining, base broadly cuneate-attenuate, apex mucronate, hypogynium obsolete, represented by narrow brownish ridge or band at base of achene.
Scleria reticularis
Scleria distans
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.)
Scleria distans is widespread in tropical America and Africa. Temperate North American material has often been called Scleria hirtella Swartz (J. E. Fairey 1967; J. W. Kessler 1987); E. A. Robinson (1964) used the name S. nutans for those plants. The name S. hirtella properly belongs to an annual species of tropical America (C. D. Adams 1994b).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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