Flora of the Southeastern United States

Rhynchospora debilis Gale. Common name: Savanna Beaksedge. Phenology: Jul-Sep. Habitat: Pine savannas, longleaf pine sandhill seeps, acid seeps and flatwoods inland. Distribution: Se. VA south to n. peninsular FL and west to se. TX (Brown & Marcus 1998).

ID notes: This species has very slender stems (only up to 1 mm wide) that grow to 1 or 1.5 feet tall, often leaning. The spikelets are crowded at the tips of the stems; each floral scale has a notch at the outer end, plus a bristle-like extension of the midrib. The seed is chestnut brown, generally orbicular, smooth on the surface, with bristles all less than half the length of the seed. The species has something of the gestalt of a small version of R. fascicularis, often with several ascending, cespitose culms, each terminated by a single glomerule.

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Synonymy ⓘ: = C, ETx1, F, FNA23, GW1, K4, NS, POWO, RAB, Tn, Va, WH3, Gale (1944), McMillan (2007); = n/a — S, S13. Basionym: Rhynchospora debilis Gale 1944

Links to other floras: = Rhynchospora debilis - FNA23

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL

Heliophily ⓘ: 9