Blysmopsis rufa

(Hudson) Oteng-Yeboah

Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 33: 310. 1974.

Common names: Saltmarsh flat -sedge red clubrush blysmopsis roux scirpe roux
Illustrated
Basionym: Schoenus rufus Hudson Fl. Angl. ed. 2, 15. 1778
Synonyms: Blysmus rufus (Hudson) Link Scirpus rufus (Hudson) Schrader Scirpus rufus var. neogaeus Fernald
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 23. Treatment on page 199. Mentioned on page 196.

Plants loosely cespitose. Rhizomes horizontal, slender, 1–3 mm thick. Culms (5–)10–45 cm × 1–2(–3) mm, glabrous. Leaves 1–3; ligules 0.3 mm; blades distichous, thickly crescentiform in cross section, 2–12(–18) cm × 1.5–4 mm, conspicuous midrib absent, apex blunt, glabrous. Inflorescences in loose spikes, 5–8; spikelets distichous, spreading-ascending, 1–2 cm; bracts erect to oblique, leaflike or scalelike, 4–15 mm. Spikelets linear-lanceoid to subterete, 3–6(–10) × 3–4.5 mm; floral scales deciduous, 3, tristichous, reddish brown, oblong-lanceolate, 3–5 × 2–3 mm, apex acute, glossy; prophylls linear, subtending flower. Flowers: perianth bristles separating from achene when mature, white, 0.5–1.2 mm, apex antrorsely roughened or barbed; anthers linear, 2.5–3 mm; connective apices barely 0.1 mm, obtuse, smooth; style as long as stigmas. Achenes yellowish brown, narrowly ellipsoid, dorsiventrally compressed, 4–5 × 1–1.3(–1.7) mm, base cuneate-stipelike, apex acute, beaked, smooth; embryo turbinate with lateral coleoptile and basal root cap (“Carex-type”). 2n = 40.


Phenology: Fruiting late summer.
Habitat: Coastal and inland salt or brackish marshes or freshwater peatlands
Elevation: 0–200 m

Distribution

V23 353-distribution-map.jpg

Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon, Alaska, Europe, Asia.

Discussion

Blysmopsis has been included in Scirpus or more recently treated within Blysmus. The current case for generic status was presented by J. J. Bruhl (1995). Blysmopsis differs from Blysmus in having thickly crescentiform leaf blades (not flat), terete or elliptic culms (not roundly trigonous), antrorsely (not retrorsely barbed) perianth bristles, and spongy, irregularly thickened fruit mesocarp layer (not regularly thickened). In the last feature, Blysmopsis is more like Cladium than its closer relatives Blysmus and Dulichium.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Blysmopsis rufa"
Jeremy J. Bruhl +  and Gordon C. Tucker +
(Hudson) Oteng-Yeboah +
Schoenus rufus +
Saltmarsh flat -sedge +, red clubrush +, blysmopsis roux +  and scirpe roux +
Man. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. +, N.W.T. +, N.S. +, Nunavut +, Ont. +, P.E.I. +, Que. +, Sask. +, Yukon +, Alaska +, Europe +  and Asia. +
0–200 m +
Coastal and inland salt or brackish marshes or freshwater peatlands +
Fruiting late summer. +
Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh +
Illustrated +
Blysmus rufus +, Scirpus rufus +  and Scirpus rufus var. neogaeus +
Blysmopsis rufa +
Blysmopsis +
species +