Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

62. Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

1. Bulbostylis Kunth.

1. Bulbostylis capillaris (L.) Clarke

Small tufted annual 0.5-3(4) dm tall; culms usually many, capillary, usually much surpassing the leaves, longitudinally ribbed, scaberulous. Leaves mainly basal, the blades short, filiform, to 0.5 mm wide. Inflorescence of (1)2-5 or more spikelets in a capitate or umbelliform cluster usually less than 1 cm long, with 1 spikelet sessile and the others pedicellate; involucral bracts 2-3, filiform, the largest usually surpassing the inflorescence; spikelets few- to several-flowered, ovoid-oblong, 3-8 mm long; scales all or nearly all subtending a flower, spirally arranged, dark reddish-brown with a strong green midrib and membranous margins, ovate, 1.5-2 mm long, blunt-tipped, puberulent, often deciduous before the achene. Flowers perfect; perianth none; stamens 2; styles 3-cleft, barely exsert, with a swollen base that persists on the achene as a tubercle. Achene ivory to tan, obovoid-trigonous, 0.8-1 mm long, cross-rugulose on the faces; tubercle minute, mammillate, darker than the achene body and distinct from it. Late Jun--Sep. Sandy shores, stream banks and alluvial bars; uncommon in c and e NE; (ME and s Que. to MN and NE s to FL, TX and w to CA; also n Mex. and Cuba).
GIF- Distribution Map

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Menlo Park, CA [caww54]