Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Frimbristylis annua (All.) Roem. & J.A. Schultes
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: July-October
- Field Marks: This is the only annual fimbry that has an open umbel of spikelets and ciliate styles.
- Habitat: Wet or dry soil.
- Habit: Annual herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Upright, branched or unbranched, slender, flattened, grooved, up to 15 inches tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, flat, linear, sometimes glaucous, up to 1/10 inch wide, smooth except for the ciliate edges.
- Flowers: Several in spikelets, the spikelets solitary or several in an open umbel; bracts thread-like.
- Spikelets: Ovoid, up to 1/2 inch long, stalked; scales ovate, rounded or slightly pointed at the tip, brown, smooth.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 1.
- Pistils: Ovary superior; styles ciliate.
- Fruits: Achenes obovoid, gray to straw-colored, up to 1/16 inch long, warty.
- Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.
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