Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Small Bunched Beaksedge - Rhynchospora cephalantha var. attenuata   Gale
Members of Cyperaceae:
Members of Rhynchospora with account distribution info or public map:
Flora of SE USGoogle Images
Section 5 » Family Cyperaceae
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AuthorGale
DistributionSandhills only, with slight extension into Johnston county.

Coastal Plain, southeastern VA to southern AL and western LA.
AbundanceUncommon to frequent.
HabitatBlackwater streamheads and their ecotones. Usually occurs under a tree/shrub canopy.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July to October.
IdentificationHeads are hemispheric, not globular as in other members of species R. cephalantha. Spikelets are brown to dark brown. Stems usually lean at an angle, not vertical as in R. chalarocephala, which has very dark brown spikelets.
Taxonomic CommentsMembers of the genus Rhynchospora -- mainly called beaksedges but also called beakrushes -- are mostly Coastal Plain in distribution and are important members of our longleaf pine savannas, flatwoods, streamheads, depression ponds, Carolina bays, and beaver ponds. They vary from small and wiry to large and coarse. Keys concentrate on features of the achenes (seeds) and the shape and arrangement of the flower clusters (spikelets). The seeds may or not have bristles at their base; bristle number, length, and toothing are critical characters. Size and shape of the seed beaks is also critical. The drawings in Godfrey & Wooten (1979) are extremely helpful, as is the key by LeBlond in Weakley et al. (2025). The genus now includes Dichromena, the white-topped sedges. McMillan (2007) published a superb technical monograph of all eastern U.S. species, complete with specimen images.
Other Common Name(s)
State RankS3
Global RankG5T3?
State StatusW1
US Status
USACE-agcp
USACE-emp
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B.A. SorrieScotland County, 2015, Sandhills Game Land, The Dismal, natural depression recently clearcut. Var. attenuata. ScotlandPhoto_natural
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