Rhynchospora plumosa

Rhynchospora plumosa
Photo by Guy Anglin, Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:	Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order:	Cyperales
Family:	Cyperaceae
Genus:	Rhynchospora
Species:	R. plumosa
Binomial name
Rhynchospora plumosa Elliott
Natural range of Rhynchospora plumosa from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: plumed beaksedge

Description

A description of Rhynchospora plumosa is provided in The Flora of North America.

Ecology

R. plumosa was found in non-disturbed longleaf pine sites in the North Carolina; in contrast, the species was not found in highly disturbed sites (Cohen et al. 2004).

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida, R. plumosa can occur in savannas, open scrub oak savannas, wiregrass savannas, pine-palmetto scrub oaks, seasonally wet depressions in open pinewoods, pine flatwoods, regularly burned pine flatwoods, slash pine-wiregrass flatwoods, exposed sandy bottoms of lakes, seepages slopes, hillside bogs, grass-sedge bogs, shrubby borders of depression marshes, sand ridges, mangrove swamps, dry pine barrens, and drying ephemeral ponds (FSU Herbarium). It can also be found in power line corridors, sandy roadsides, wet borrow pits, shrub bog clearings, pine flatwood clearings, moist roadside depressions, cut-over pinewoods, cleared palmetto scrubs, bull-dozed scrublands, boat ramps, pine plantations, and clobbered pine-wiregrass flatwoods. Soils include dry sand, moist sandy peat, loamy sand, sandy loam, and white sand (FSU Herbarium).

Associated species include Aristida stricta, Pinus palustris, Serenoa repens, Hypericum, Stillingia, Xyris, Rhexia mariana, Dichanthelium wrightianum, Scleria georgiana, Sarracenia flava, Drosera, Sarracenia, Rhynchospora elliottii, R. corniculata, R. chapmannii, R. pusilla, R. fascicularis, R. baldwinii, R. globularis, R. wrightiana, R. fernaldii, and R. ciliaris (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

Flowers and fruits April through December (FSU Herbarium).

Fire ecology

In longleaf pine forests of the southeastern United States, R. plumosa benefits from higher fire fequencies and is common in the second winter after after a fire (Glitzenstein et al. 2003, DiMiceli et al. 2007).

Use by animals

The Henslow’s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) does not prefer to eat the seeds (DiMiceli et al. 2007).

References and notes

Cohen, S., R. Braham and F. Sanchez. 2004. Seed bank viability in disturbed longleaf pine sites. Restoration Ecology 12:503-515.

Glitzenstein, J. S., D. R. Streng and D. D. Wade. 2003. Fire frequency effects on longleaf pine (Pinus palustris, P.Miller) vegetation in South Carolina and northeast Florida, USA. Natural Areas Journal 23:22-37.

DiMiceli, J. K., P. C. Stouffer, E. I. Johnson, C. Leonardi and E. B. Moser. 2007. Seed preferences of wintering Henslow's sparrows. Condor 109:595-604.

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Robert K. Godfrey, S. F. Blake, Robert Kral, Mabel Kral, A. F. Clewell, Robert Blaisdell, Ann F. Johnson, Sidney McDaniel, Kurt E. Blum, S.L. Orzell, Edwin L. Bridges, H. E. Grelen, P. L. Redfearn, Edward Wheeler, S. M. Tracy, N. C. Henderson, Cecil R. Slaughter, M. Minno, Austin R. Mast, O. Lakela, A. H. Curtiss, Chris Buddenhagen, Becky Bee, Annie Schmidt. States and Counties: Florida: Alachua, Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Citrus, Collier, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Franklin, Gulf, Hernando, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Santa Rosa, St. Johns, Sumter, Taylor, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, Washington. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.