keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

512 CYPERACEAE/BULBOSTYLIS
REFERENCES: Gordon-Gray 1971; Lye 1971b; Kral 1971, 2002c; Tucker 1987; Jones & Wipff 1992a.
1. All spikelets sessile or essentially so (mature spikelets can drop the lower scales and appear
stalked); inflorescence a solitary, dense, hemispherical to globose cluster of spikelets; achenes
0.5–0.6 mm long; scales of spikelet glabrous and lustrous __________________________________ B. barbata
1. Most spikelets distinctly stalked; inflorescence a simple or compound, open or compact, umbellate
cyme; achenes longer than 0.6 mm; scales of spikelet usually puberulent, rarely glabrous,
dull not lustrous.
2. Umbel-like cymes simple; scales of spikelets truncate to broadly obtuse at apex, often notched,
the tip of the keel barely reaching base of notch; achenes finely transversely ridged, not papillate;
plants annual ______________________________________________________________ B. capillaris
2. Umbel-like cymes sometimes compound (the cyme branches themselves bearing small
cymes); scales of spikelets broadly obtuse to acute at apex, the tip of the keel reaching the
apex of the scale or slightly exceeding it; achenes papillate (= with fine pebbling; use hand
lens or dissecting scope), evenly so or the papillae sometimes in lines; plants annual OR perennial,
sometimes with culm bases hard and swollen.
3. Scales of spikelet 1–1.5 mm long; achenes when mature gray, the faces evenly papillate;
plants annual or perennial; species widespread in East TX ___________________________ B. ciliatifolia
3. Scales of spikelet 2–2.7 mm long; achenes when mature gray to yellow-brown or dark
brown, papillate, but the papillae arranged in lines; plants perennial, the culm bases often
hard and swollen; species in TX primarily of the w part of the state, known in East TX only
from Washington Co. ________________________________________________________ B. juncoides
Bulbostylis barbata (Rottb.) C.B. Clarke, (barbed), WATER-GRASS. Slender annual to 20(–30) cm
tall; spikelets narrowly lance-ovoid to linear or oblong, 3–7 mm long, the scales 1.2–2.2 mm
long; achenes finely reticulate; n = 5 (Kral 1971). The lone TX locality was a disturbed area along
a ditch with running water, on strongly acid sand; in general “moist to dry sands of roadbanks,
fields, natural and artificial clearings” (Kral 1971); known in TX only from Newton Co. (Jones &
Wipff 1992; Turner et al. 2003); se U.S. from NC s to FL w to TX. Jul–Sep(–Oct). [Scirpus barbatus
Rottb.] Native of the Old World tropics. First reported for TX in 1992 (Jones & Wipff 1992). Kral
(1971) indicated that this is a weedy species expanding its range in the se U.S., and that it is a
“frequent invader of cultivated ground and common enough on sandy fields in late summer to
form a reddish-brown carpet of inflorescences.” I
Bulbostylis capillaris (L.) Kunth ex C.B. Clarke, (hair-like), HAIR SEDGE, DENSE-TUFT HAIR SEDGE.
Slender annual 5–35 cm tall; spikelets narrowly ovoid, (2–)3–5 mm long, rarely longer, the scales
1.5–2 mm long; n = 36 (Tucker 1987); however, Kral (2002c) has 2n = 84. In loose sand; e 1/2 of TX
and Trans-Pecos; se Canada and widespread in e 1/2 of the U.S., also AZ, CA, and NM. Jun–Sep. [B.
capillaris var. crebra Fernald, Fimbristylis capillaris (L.) A. Gray, Scirpus capillaris L.] Clusters of
spikelets are reported to be occasionally found at the plant base in this species (Kral 1971, 2002c).
Bulbostylis ciliatifolia (Elliott) Fernald, (ciliate-leaved), CAPILLARY HAIR SEDGE. Annual or shortlived
perennial to 40 cm tall; spikelets narrowly ovoid to lance-ovoid or oblong, 2–6 mm long.
Sandy areas. Summer–Fall. Kral (1971) separated 2 varieties as follows:
1. Annuals usually 20 cm or less tall; inflorescence a simple to rarely compound umbel of few,
lance-ovoid spikelets; longest bract of inflorescence seldom exceeding inflorescence; edges of
leaves usually hispidulous ________________________________________________________ var. ciliatifolia
1. Perennials 15–40 cm tall; inflorescence usually of many, oblong or lance-linear spikelets and
commonly compound; longest bract of inflorescence commonly longer than inflorescence; edges
of leaves usually distinctly tuberculate-scabrid ________________________________________ var. coarctata
var. ciliatifolia. Annual. Bastrop Co. (BRIT) in s part of East TX, also Parker Co. (BRIT) in the
Cross Timbers and Prairies. [Scirpus ciliatifolius Elliott] We have seen specimens of this variety