Xyris jupicai
Xyris platylepis
Richard's yelloweyed grass
tall yelloweyed grass
compact.
compact.
erect or ascending in narrow fans, 5–60 cm;
sheaths straw-colored, light green, or brown, smooth;
blade green, linear, flattened, 2–5(–15) mm wide, smooth, margins smooth or papillate.
erect or ascending, 15–30(–50) cm;
sheaths pinkish to red, soft;
blade green, linear, flattened, twisted, 5–10 mm wide, smooth, margins smooth.
scape sheaths exceeded by principal leaves;
scapes linear, terete, distally oval, (0.5–)1–1.5(–2) mm wide, smooth, 1–2-ribbed, ribs papillate;
spikes ovoid to ellipsoid or cylindro-lanceoloid, 7–15(–25) mm, apex acute;
fertile bracts 5–7 mm, margins entire, apex rounded.
scape sheaths exceeded by leaves;
scapes linear, often flexuous, terete, to (1.5–)2(–3) mm wide, distally 2–4(–6) ribbed, ribs smooth or papillate;
spikes ovoid to cylindric, 8–30 mm;
fertile bracts 5–7 mm, margins entire, apex rounded.
lateral sepals included, slightly curved, 5–7 mm, keel scarious, lacerate, thin;
petals unfolding in morning, blade obtriangular, 3 mm;
staminodes bearded.
lateral sepals included, light brown, slightly curved, 5–7 mm, keel scarious, lacerate;
petals, unfolding at midday, blade broadly obovate, 5 mm;
staminodes bearded.
translucent, ellipsoid, 0.4–0.5 mm, faintly ribbed.
translucent, ellipsoid, 0.5–0.6 mm, longitudinally irregularly ribbed, with fainter cross lines.
= 18.
= 18.
Xyris jupicai
Xyris platylepis
The widest-ranging of all New World Xyrids and the most ample ecologically, Xyris jupicai is a frequent invader of disturbed or fallow open wetlands within its extensive range. In the southeastern United States it frequently shares habitat with two other species of its complex, namely X. difformis var. difformis and X. laxifolia. It differs from both in its lack of red pigmentation, from X. difformis by its more erect leaves and narrower, less prominently ribbed scapes, and from X. laxifolia by its narrower leaves and scapes, shorter, narrower, paler spikes, and translucent (rather than mealy), shorter seeds. Nonetheless, some difficult "calls" arise since all three flower at the same time and occasional chance hybrids do form.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Xyris platylepis, which may be associated with other bulbous-based species such as X. torta and X. caroliniana, appears very similar to larger extremes of the former but differs in its plane (rather than prominently ribbed) leaf surfaces and its lacerate (rather than ciliate) sepal keels, and from the latter in its more shallowly set and pinkish or red (rather than chestnut brown) bases, as well as in its sepal keels that are lacerate rather than fimbriate.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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