Trichophorum clintonii (Gray) Sm.
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TAXONOMY
 
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Trichophorum
 
Species Synonyms: Scirpus clintonii Gray
Baeothryon clintonii (Gray) A. &D. Löve
Common Names: Clinton’s bulrush
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: central and eastern Alberta – west-central Saskatchewan, Ontario – New Brunswick
Saskatchewan: west-central Saskatchewan; south of Meadow Lake
Ecoregion: Boreal Transition
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: moist sandy open woods
Associated Species: Rubus arcticus, Rubus pubescens
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Endangered
Nature Conservancy Status:
G4 S1
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
None
 
Trichophorum clintonii is endangered in Saskatchewan because it is rare and highly regionally restricted in the province. Local population sizes vary and are threatened by planned developments.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 10 – 30 cm
Roots: rootstocks short
Stems: densely caespitose, base with persistent leaf sheaths and remnants of old leaves and stems, trigonous, scabrous on angles, very slender
Leaves: lower sheaths orange to dark brown, blade lacking or small; leaves basal or sub-basal, blade 1.5 – 25 cm long, may equal culm, much shorter than culm in fruit, < 1 cm wide
Inflorescence: spikelet solitary, terminal; bracts (or outermost scale) 3 – 6 mm long, shorter than or equal to spikelet, apex mucronate
Spikelets: 3 – 7-flowered, 4 – 5 mm long; inner scales acute to obtuse, orangish-brown to dark brown
Flowers: perianth bristles 3 – 6, equalling or shorter than achenes, terete, scabrous; stamens 3; styles 3-cleft
Fruits: 1 – 2 mm long, obovoid, trigonous, smooth, scarcely beaked
 
TRICHOPHORUM KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Culms terete, smooth
2
1 Culms trigonous, scabrous
3
   
2 Plants loosely caespitose; involucral bracts mucronate; perianth bristles absent
T. pumilum
2 Plants densely caespitose; involucral bracts awned; perianth bristles 6
T. cespitosum
   
3 Flowers more than 15 per spike; perianth bristles white and silky, many times longer than achene
T. alpinum
3 Flowers less than 10 per spike; perianth bristles brown to white, shorter than achene
T. clintonii