Flora of the Southeastern United States

Scleria oligantha Michaux. Common name: Few-flowered Nutrush. Phenology: Apr-Sep. Habitat: Dry to moist forests and woodlands, swamp forests. Distribution: NJ and MO south to c. peninsular FL and TX; Puerto Rico; Mexico and Central America. Reported as new to MD (Longbottom, Naczi, & Knapp 2016). Also present (perhaps common and overlooked?) in n. GA (Gemma Milly, pers. comm., 2022)

ID notes: This is a perennial species, very leafy, and a "clump-former". The leaves radiate outward and parallel to the ground, with the leaf tips bending down to touch the ground. The flowering stems stand erect or lean over, 1-2 feet long and red-purple at the base. The inflorescence clusters are small, with only 1-4 spikelets each. The achenes have 8-9 rounded tubercles at the base, rather than 3-6 tubercles in some other nutrushes. The long, filiform, arching lateral peduncles are distinctive (but see S. flaccida).

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, ETx1, F, FNA23, G, GW1, Il, K4, Mex, Mo1, NcTx, NS, POWO, RAB, S, S13, Tn, Tx, Va, W, WH3, Fairey (1967), LeBlond, Tessel, & Poindexter (2015); = n/a — Tat. Basionym: Scleria oligantha Michx. 1803

Links to other floras: = Scleria oligantha - FNA23

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
• Great Plains: FAC
• Midwest: FACU
• Northcentral & Northeast: FAC

Heliophily ⓘ: 5