| Author | Sporleder ex Koernicke | |
| Distribution | Essentially throughout the southern 35% of the Coastal Plain, except absent from the Sandhills proper. Ranges north only to Cumberland, Sampson, Duplin, and Carteret counties. Oddly, RAB (1968) had records only for three NC counties! -- many records of L. beyrichiana were misidentified as L. minus.
This is an Atlantic Coastal Plain species, ranging from southeastern NC south to most of FL and southern AL; it does not range north to VA.
| |
| Abundance | Uncommon in much of the area, but locally fairly common in areas where Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) is present. This species was formerly tracked as rare or as a Watch List species by NCNHP until recently; obviously much thorough field work in the southern Coastal Plain has turned up numerous records in recent decades. | |
| Habitat | This species occurs in drier habitats than do the other Lachnocaulon and Eriocaulon species. It occurs in mesic pine flatwoods, less so in somewhat wet flatwoods, into some pine-scrub oak sandhills, and (rarely) uppermost margins of pineland pools and ponds. | |
| Phenology | Flowers and fruits from May to October. | |
| Identification | This species is similar to the more common L. anceps, only in that it has numerous narrow basal leaves and hairy scapes. In this species, the leaves are about 2 inches long and very narrowly linear to almost filiform, barely 1/12-inch wide. The long, skinny scapes reach 6 inches tall and usually lie parallel to the ground. The solitary head is only about 3.5-4 mm (about 1/6-inch) across, mostly dull gray in color, whereas L. anceps heads are slightly larger at 1/4-inch across and whitish. The seeds in this species are rather shiny and nearly lack striations, whereas seeds of L. anceps are dull and have obvious striations. The rare L. minus has a buff-colored or brownish head and its scapes stand upright. In general, L. beyrichianum grows in dense mats, with the leaves and scapes spreading outward in many directions. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S4 | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | | |
