Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

62. Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

7. Fimbristylis Vahl

1. Fimbristylis autumnalis (L.) R. & S.

Tufted annual with shallow fibrous roots; culms 1-many, flattened, 0.5-4 dm tall. Leaves shorter than the culms; blades flat, 1-2 mm wide; ligule a line of short hairs. Inflorescence cymose, subtended by 2 or 3 foliaceous bracts, these usually shorter than the inflorescence; pedicels filiform, stiffly spreading to ascending; spikelets usually many, solitary or partly in twos or threes on the pedicels, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 3-10 mm long; scales golden-brown or coppery with a prominent green midrib, elliptic-ovate, 1-1.5 mm long, awn-tipped below to mucronate above in the spikelet; stamens 2; styles trifid. Achenes ivory to light brown, trigonous, 0.4-0.5 mm long, strongly ribbed on the 3 angles, nearly smooth to cross-reticulate on the faces, sometimes warty toward the base. Jun--Sep. Shores, stream banks and wet meadows, often where sandy; rare and probably occurring as a waif in our range, e SD and e NE; (ME and Que. to MN and SD, s to FL and TX; also Mex., C. and S.Amer.).
GIF- Distribution Map

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Menlo Park, CA [caww54]