Xyris jupicai
Xyris scabrifolia
Richard's yelloweyed grass
Harper's 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 to ascending, 10–50 cm;
sheaths pinkish, rugulose, papillate, or scabrous to nearly smooth, soft;
blade dull green, linear, flattened, slightly to very twisted, 2.5–10 mm wide, smooth to papillate or scabrous, margins smooth to scabrous.
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, terete, to 2.5 mm wide, smooth to minutely scabrous, 2–4-ribbed distally, ribs papillate to minutely scabrous;
spikes prevalently ovoid-ellipsoid, (7–)10–17(–20) mm;
fertile bracts 6–8 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, slightly curved, 6–8 mm, keel scarious, lacerate to lacero-fimbriate;
petals unfolding midday or afternoon, blade broadly obovate to nearly orbiculate, 3–5 mm;
staminodes bearded.
translucent, ellipsoid, 0.4–0.5 mm, faintly ribbed.
translucent, ellipsoid-cylindric, 0.6–1 mm, longitudinally multiribbed with fainter cross ribs.
= 18.
= 18.
Xyris jupicai
Xyris scabrifolia
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.)
Although I have seen no records from South Carolina, Xyris scabrifolia is to be expected there.
Several examples of what Bridges and Orzell have named Xyris chapmanii, together with a series of my own of this morph, show such intergradation that it is impossible to break the two out even as varieties.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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