Scleria flaccida Steudel. Common name: Flaccid Nutrush. Phenology: May-Sep. Habitat: Coastal hammocks, maritime forests, oak woods and thickets near saltwater, blackwater swamps. Distribution: Scattered along the outer Coastal Plain from se. VA to s. FL and west to LA.

ID notes: This is the most robust nutrush/nutsedge of the S. triglomerata group. Plants form broad patches or colonies. The leaves and bracts are much wider than the dryland S. nitida (no measurements available), and the leaf sheaths are rather densely pubescent vs. glabrous in the wetland S. triglomerata. From both it can also be told by the base of the seed (the hypogonium), which looks like it is covered with tiny shards of glass (vs. tiny rounded bumps). The often pendulous and capillary lateral peduncles suggest S. oligantha, another swamp species. S. oligantha is most readily separated by its 8-9-lobed hypogynium with minute rounded papillae.

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Taxonomy Comments: This is a poorly known species, with more locations likely to be found upon re-examination of S. triglomerata and S. nitida specimens.

Synonymy ⓘ: = F, NSProv; < Scleria nitida Willd. — G; < Scleria triglomerata Michx. — C, FNA23, GW1, K4, POWO, RAB, S, S13, WH3. Basionym: Scleria flaccida Steud. 1855

Links to other floras: < Scleria triglomerata - FNA23

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Great Plains: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Midwest: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Northcentral & Northeast: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)

Heliophily ⓘ: 7