| Author | Chapman ex M.A. Curtis | |
| Distribution | Mostly the southern Coastal Plain; rare in the Sandhills proper and on the Outer Banks (Roanoke Island).
Coastal Plain, NC to southern FL and eastern TX; West Indies, Mex., Central America. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon in the southern Coastal Plain; rare in the Sandhills and on the Outer Banks. The website editors suggest a State Rank of S3. | |
| Habitat | Moist or seasonally wet depressions in pine savannas and flatwoods, natural depression ponds in the Sandhills, roadside ditches. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting June-September. | |
| Identification | Fairy Beaksedge is densely tufted and with threadlike leaves and stems, less than one foot tall. The spikelet clusters are rather loose and open (not tight or dense or headlike). The seeds are minute (0.6-0.8 mm long), biconvex, and horizontally ridged. It is much like R. divergens but the seeds of that species have smooth surfaces. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | The species was named as R. intermixta in RAB (1968).
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. The genus now includes Dichromena, the white-topped sedges. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Dwarf Beaksedge, Little Beaksedge | |
| State Rank | S2 [S3] | |
| Global Rank | G4G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
