Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Wrinkled Jointgrass - Mnesithea rugosa   (Nuttall) de Koning & Sosef
Members of Poaceae:
Members of Mnesithea with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 5 » Family Poaceae
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Author(Nuttall) de Koning & Sosef
DistributionSouthern Coastal Plain and Sandhills. A single disjunct record from Roanoke Island in Dare County (not seen for decades). Suitable habitats may be lacking in most of the northern NC Coastal Plain.

Coastal Plain, southern NJ to FL and TX.
AbundanceUncommon throughout. The Roanoke Island population has not been seen since the 1960s. The NCNHP dropped this species from its Watch List in 2022 owing to enough state records to no longer need to monitor its status.
HabitatWet soil of sinkhole ponds, depression meadows, clay-based Carolina bays, wet savannas.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting June-October.
IdentificationThese plants are tall (3-5 feet high), with long-tapering leaves and several linear inflorescences. The spikelets are tightly crowded one atop another and form a slender cylinder. Each spikelet has several horizontal pits on the glumes (vs. vertically-oriented pits in M. cylindrica).
Taxonomic CommentsPreviously known as Manisuris rugosa or Coelorachis rugosa. NatureServe still lists this as Coelorachis rugosa.

Other Common Name(s)Wrinkled Jointtail, Wrinkled Jointtail Grass
State RankS3
Global RankG5
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B.A. SorrieScotland County, 2021, Sandhills Game Land, 17 Frog Pond. ScotlandPhoto_natural
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