Rhynchospora capillaceaTorr.

Capillary beakrushNeedle beaksedgeneedle beaksedge

WFO wfo-0000514596 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. a Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-09-06 / obs. 94024915
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. b Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 45684066
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Derek
fig. c Derek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24025428
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by aarongunnar
fig. d aarongunnar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 22988095
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Derek
fig. e Derek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 4726705
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Rose Zappa
fig. f Rose Zappa, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 155244465
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Rose Zappa
fig. g Rose Zappa, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151998208
Rhynchospora capillacea, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. h Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133562868

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 33 botanical countries

Regions where Rhynchospora capillacea is native: Alabama, Alberta, Arkansas, British Columbia, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin AlabamaAlbertaArkansasBritish ColumbiaConnecticutIllinoisIndianaIowaMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWisconsin Rhode I.
Native distribution of Rhynchospora capillacea, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Wisconsin WIS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 200 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -13.3 °C -9.4 °C -3.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.0 °C 25.1 °C 28.7 °C
Annual rainfall 790 mm 975 mm 1,194 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 77 mm 196 mm 235 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 200 research-grade observations of Rhynchospora capillacea that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Phaeocephalum capillaceum (Torr.) Farw.
  • Phaeocephalum capillaceum var. levisetum Farw.
  • Rhynchospora capillacea f. capillacea
  • Rhynchospora capillacea f. leviseta (E.J.Hill ex A.Gray) Fernald
  • Rhynchospora capillacea var. leviseta E.J.Hill ex A.Gray
  • Rhynchospora setacea MacMill.
  • Schoenus setaceus Muhl.
  • Triodon capillaceus (Torr.) Farw.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.