| Author | Carey ex Chapman | |
| Distribution | Discovered in NC in 2019 at Camp Branch Savanna in Brunswick County by Eric Ungberg (specimen at NCU). Shortly disjunct from Berkeley County, SC.
se NC; se SC; southcentral GA; nw FL and se AL to se LA; sw LA. | |
| Abundance | Very rare on the landscape; a single population known in NC. This is a Watch List species (W1), and it perhaps could be considered as Significantly Rare in upcoming years, owing to just one known record. | |
| Habitat | "Degraded very wet loamy pine savanna." | |
| Phenology | Flowering/fruiting July-Aug. (-Sept.) | |
| Identification | While superficially resembling a number of beaksedges, R. compressa has unique achenes that have flattened faces, faces with many strong transverse ridges, and a beak that recalls the roof of an oriental pagoda (triangular, with slightly upturned margin). | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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) | | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | W7 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
