| Author | LeBlond | |
| Distribution | Outer Coastal Plain; disjunct to the lower Piedmont. So far known only from Onslow, Pender, and Granville counties (historical).
NC to FL and TX; Mex., Cuba. | |
| Abundance | Rare, and limited now to a small area of northeastern Pender and adjacent western Onslow counties -- with about 5 sites in this region. This is a State Endangered species. | |
| Habitat | Wet pine savannas with calcareous influence; diabase glade (Granville County). Associated rare species at these sites include Carex lutea, Thalictrum cooleyi, and Allium species 1 (fide Weakley 2018). |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting May-September. | |
| Identification | In the field this very rare species resembles S. pauciflora, S. ciliata, and S. elliottii. From the former, its seeds are longer (2.5-3.5 mm long vs. 2.5 mm or less long). From the latter two species, its seed surface has low, indistinct bumps (tubercles) vs. abundant, distinctly raised bumps in those two species. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | This species was split off from the S. ciliata complex in 2015; see JBRIT 9: 31-41.
The genus Scleria, named as nutrushes, is a group of sedges notable for the white, often glossy, achenes (seeds) and tough, knotty, horizontal rhizomes (absent in S. verticillata, S. muehlenbergii, and S. reticularis). Stems are 1-many per plant, terminated by inflorescences of 1-several spikelets, subtended by leafy bracts. In some species there are also inflorescences produced from upper and middle stem leaf axils, these usually on long arching stalks. A dissecting scope is necessary to examine the achene for shape, ornamentation (bumps, pits, ridges), and hairs. Just as important are features of the hypogonium, upon which the achene tightly sits: present or not, how many lobes, and ornamentation (bumps, sharp points, etc.). | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Bell's Nutrush, named for C. Ritchie Bell, longtime Director of the UNC Botanical Garden, and one of the authors of the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (1968). | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G2G3 | |
| State Status | E | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
