Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Small Bunched Beaksedge + - Rhynchospora cephalantha var. cephalantha   A. Gray
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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AuthorA. Gray
DistributionMostly southern 2/3 of the Coastal Plain; scarce in the Sandhills.

Coastal Plain, NJ to southern FL and eastern TX.
AbundanceUncommon to frequent in the Coastal Plain; rare in the Sandhills.
HabitatWet pine savannas, margins of impoundments, margins of fresh-tidal marshes, pocosin ecotones, wet streamheads.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-October.
IdentificationHeads of var. cephalantha are globular, vs. hemispherical in var. attenuata.
Taxonomic CommentsRecent thinking by R. LeBlond and others is that var. pleiocephala is not distinct enough to warrant varietal status; specimens with this label are included here with var. cephalantha. Weakley (2018) also includes var. pleiocephala here.

Members 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 [S3S4]
Global RankG5T4T5
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USACE-agcp
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B.A. SorrieSeepage in gasline, extension of Tilley Street, Hoffman, July 2009. Var. cephalantha. RichmondPhoto_natural
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