Rhynchospora nitens(Vahl) A.Gray

shortbeak beaksedge

WFO wfo-0000519085 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by mark-groeneveld
fig. a mark-groeneveld, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-14 / obs. 172884165
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Ann Redmond
fig. b Ann Redmond, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91007478
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. c Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197965602
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Jade Fortnash
fig. d Jade Fortnash, CC0 1.0 / obs. 169654047
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Tom Field
fig. e Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169052023
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. f Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 163641179
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. g Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162731072
Rhynchospora nitens, photographed by Jade Fortnash
fig. h Jade Fortnash, CC0 1.0 / obs. 159634039

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 23 botanical countries

Regions where Rhynchospora nitens is native: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico AlabamaFloridaGeorgiaIndianaLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMississippiNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTexasVirginiaBelizeCubaDominican RepublicGuyanaHondurasNicaraguaPuerto Rico Delaware
Native distribution of Rhynchospora nitens, 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
Delaware DEL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Indiana INI
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Mississippi MSI
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
South Carolina SCA
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Puerto Rico PUE

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.

Also published as 12 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.

  • Dichostylis nitens Rikli
  • Dichromena nitens (Vahl) Kunth
  • Isolepis nitens (Vahl) Roem. & Schult.
  • Psilocarya nitens (Vahl) Alph.Wood
  • Psilocarya portoricensis Britton
  • Psilocarya rhynchosporoides Torr.
  • Psilocarya texensis Torr.
  • Rhynchospora nitens var. hispaniolica Kük.
  • Rhynchospora nitens var. nitens
  • Rhynchospora texensis (Torr.) Boeckeler
  • Scirpus carolinianus Panz. ex Kunth
  • Scirpus nitens Vahl

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.