Rhynchospora tracyi
Trans. New York Acad. Sci. 11: 84. 1892.
Illustrator:
Copyright:
Plants perennial, clonal, to 120 cm; rhizomes scaly, slender, less than 2 mm thick. Culms erect, leafybased, wandlike, nearly terete, multiribbed. Leaves ascending or erect, longest nearly equaling culm; principal blades linear, involutecylindric, to 3 mm wide, apex tapering, subulate. Inflorescences terminal, heads 1–4, dense, macelike, 1–1.5 mm thick; involucral-bracts leafy, proximalmost overtopping inflorescence. Spikelets greenish, lanceovoid, 5–6 mm, apex acuminate; fertile scales boatshaped, 5 mm, apex acute to shortacuminate, midrib slightly excurrent or not. Flowers: perianth bristles 6, exceeding fruit body, antrorsely barbellate. Fruits 1 per spikelet, 6–8 (–8.7) mm; body pale greenbrown, laterally compressed, obcordiform, 2.5–3 (–4) mm, margins thick, rounded, not crimped, apex barely exserted, setulose, surfaces nearly plane, minutely cancellate (latticed); tubercle (style base) linear, angled, 4–6 mm, much narrower than fruit summit, setulose.
Phenology: Fruiting late spring–fall.
Habitat: Emergent in shallows of cypress domes, marshes and swales, ditches and ponds
Elevation: 0–100 m
Distribution
Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tex., West Indies, Central America (Belize)
Discussion
Rhynchospora tracyi frequently forms clones extending for acres by means of its long slender rhizomes. Its wandlike, terete, supple culms, and round-capitate clusters of spikelets suggest a rush more than a sedge.
Selected References
None.
Lower Taxa
"shortened" is not a number."longest" is not a number."wider" is not a number.