Rhynchospora alba (L.) Vahl - White Beak-rush


 

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Rhynchospora alba - (image 1 of 3)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Habitat

Bogs, open swamps, poor fens.

Associates

 

 Distribution

Circumboreal. Most of Canada, south along the west coast of the U.S., through MN, WI, and IL in the Midwest and to GA in the east.

Morphology

Perennial sedge with slender stems exceeding the narrow, grass-like, 0.5-2.5 mm wide leaves. Spikelets in 1-3 compact, cymose clusters (glomerules); spikelets white to brownish with 1-3 flowers; bristles 8-14, minutely hairy at the base; tubercle of achene prominent and less than 3 mm long, as broad as the summit of the achene.

Notes

Flowers late June to September

Wetland indicator: Obligate

Other characteristics of this genus include:

grass-like leaves with a closed sheath; flowers subtended by spirally imbricate scales; spikelets all alike, subtended by foliaceous or setaceous bracts, several to many in compact, cymose clusters called glomerules; fruit an achene, 1-2 per spikelet, terminated by a tubercle 0.1 to 20 mm long; achene not enclosed in a perigynium (as in Carex) and rarely white.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

 

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

 

USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.


 


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 Michael Hough © 2009