Scleria reticularis

Scleria reticularis
Photo by Betty Wargo, Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:	Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order:	Cyperales
Family:	Cyperaceae
Genus:	Scleria
Species:	S. reticularis
Binomial name
Scleria reticularis Michx.
Natural range of Scleria reticularis from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: netted nutrush

Taxonomic notes

Synonyms: S. reticularis var. reticularis

Description

A description of Scleria reticularis is provided in The Flora of North America.

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida, S. reticularis can be found in wet, mesic and dry savannas, pine-wiregrass savannas, depression marshes, mesic mixed hardwoods, shores of natural ponds, seepage bogs, wet pine thickets, lake shores, dried up ponds, interdune ponds, swamps, and pine flatwoods (FSU Herbarium; Walker and Peet 1983). It can also be found in unnatural ponds, roadside ditches, powerline corridors, clobbered wet flatwoods, hiking trails, sandy fields, borrowpits, choppped up savannas, swampy woodland clearings, and logged flatwoods. The historical range includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New York and Missouri and is considered rare species associated with depression wetlands in the southeastern Coastal Plain (Edwards and Weakley 2001).

Associated species include Eleocharis equisetoides, Nymphaea, Rhynchospora, Panicum, Juncus, Xyris, Sagittaria isoetiformis, Lachnocaulon, Pinguicula, bahiagrass, bermudagrass, Rhynchospora oligantha, Cuphea aspera, Verbesina chapmanii, Magnolia, Nyssa, Pinckneya, Liquidambar, Quercus, Scleria verticillata, Anthaenantia, Pleea, Drosera, Macbridea alba, Phyla and Cyperus (FSU Herbarium).

Soils include sandy peat and loamy sand (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

It is considered a short lived plant (Hinmann and Brewer 2007). Flowers and fruits June through November (FSU Herbarium).

Seed bank and germination

It is present in the seed bank (Edwards and Weakley 2001).

Fire ecology

S. reticularis was one of the several species to increase in frequency from significant change (from pre-fire to post-fire) (Hinmann and Brewer 2007). “S. reticularis produced greater numbers of flowering stalks in second post-fire census than in the pre-fire census.” (Hinmann and Brewer 2007).

References and notes

Edwards, A. L. and A. S. Weakley. 2001. Population biology and management of rare plants in depression wetlands of the southeastern coastal plain, USA. Natural Areas Journal 21:12-35.

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Steve Mortellaro, C. Jackson, Robert Kral, __Kral, R.K. Godfrey, Gary R. Knight, William P. Adams, S. M. Tracy, Robert J Lemaire, Richard D. Houk, Grady W. Reinert, John B. Nelson, R. F. Thorne, R. A. Davidson, R. F. Doren, Cecil R Slaughter, Dianne Hall, A. Clewell. States and Counties: Florida: Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Broward, Calhoun, Clay, Duval, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hernando, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Manatee, Marion, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Lucie, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, Washington. Country: Honduras. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Hinmann, S. E. and J. S. Brewer. 2007. Responses of two frequently-burned wet pine savannas to an extended period without fire. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 134:512-526.

Walker, J. and R. K. Peet. 1983. Composition and species diversity of pine-wiregrass savannas of the Green Swamp, North Carolina. Vegetatio 55:163-179.