Rhynchospora grayi

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Rhynchospora grayi
Rhyn gray.JPG
Photo by Shirley Denton (Copyrighted, use by photographer’s permission only), Nature Photography by Shirley Denton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order: Cyperales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Rhynchospora
Species: R. grayi
Binomial name
Rhynchospora grayi
Kunth
RHYN GRAY dist.jpg
Natural range of Rhynchospora grayi from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: Gray's beaksedge

Taxonomic notes

Description

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

Distribution

Rhynchospora grayi is widespread throughout the southeastern Coastal Plain with disjunct populations in western Cuba.[1]

Ecology

R. grayi was a species identified as indicating a recovered condition and perhaps high quality groundcover.[2]

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida and Georgia, R. grayi can be found in longleaf pine forests, longleaf pine-wiregrass ridges, pine-oak forests, burned pine flatwoods, dry pine barrens, recently burned wiregrass/pinewoods, peaty depressions in flatwoods, sandy lake shores, turkey oak-slash pine woodlands, and sandy xeric bluffs bordering creeks.[2][3] It can also be found in sands of powerline corridors, and sandy fallow fields.[3]

Associated species include Pinus palustris, Aristida stricta, Quercus laevis, Q. geminata, Q. margaretta, Q. incana, Licania, Stillingia sylvatica, Tragia smallii, T. urens, Rhynchosia reniformis, Croton argyranthemus and sand pine.[3]

Soil types include dry sand, wet peaty soil, coarse sand, Humaqueptic Psammaquents, and sandy xeric soils.[3]

Rhynchospora grayi is frequent and abundant in the Peninsula Xeric Sandhills and Panhandle Xeric Sandhills community types as described in Carr et al. (2010).[4]

Phenology

R. grayi has been observed flowering from April through July and in October, and fruiting April through July.[3][5]

Seed dispersal

This species is thought to be dispersed by consumption by vertebrates.[6]

Fire ecology

Populations of Rhynchospora grayi have been known to persist through repeated annual burning.[7]

Conservation, cultivation, and restoration

Cultural use

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. Sorrie, B. A. and A. S. Weakley 2001. Coastal Plain valcular plant endemics: Phytogeographic patterns. Castanea 66: 50-82.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Archer, J. K., D. L. Miller, et al. 2007. Changes in understory vegetation and soil characteristics following silvicultural activities in a southeastern mixed pine forest. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 134: 489-504.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 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, Robert Kral, A. H. Curtiss, Sidney McDaniel, James R. Burkhalter, Steve L. Orzell, Edwin L. Bridges, William Reese, Paul Redfearn, R. F. Thorne, R. A. Davidson, A. Gholson Jr., J. M. Kane, R. A. Norris, Steve L. Orzell, Helen Roth, Chris Buddenhagen, John J. Schenk, Alice Mallory. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Calhoun, Citrus, Clay, Duval, Escambia, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Holmes, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Okaloosa, Polk, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Washington. Georgia: Baker, Grady, Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.
  4. Carr, S.C., K.M. Robertson, and R.K. Peet. 2010. A vegetation classification of fire-dependent pinelands of Florida. Castanea 75:153-189.
  5. Nelson, G. PanFlora: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 13 DEC 2016
  6. Kirkman, L. Katherine. Unpublished database of seed dispersal mode of plants found in Coastal Plain longleaf pine-grasslands of the Jones Ecological Research Center, Georgia.
  7. Platt, W.J., R. Carter, G. Nelson, W. Baker, S. Hermann, J. Kane, L. Anderson, M. Smith, K. Robertson. 2021. Unpublished species list of Wade Tract old-growth longleaf pine savanna, Thomasville, Georgia.