The Stiletto Beaksedge is a newly described species that is found in sunny, wet grasslands in only seven locations in the entire world. Photo credit: Claire Ciafré
A new species of beaksedge, a grass-like plant found in wet areas, was recently described by Claire M. Ciafré and Robert F. C. Naczi. This new beaksedge has been found in only seven locations in the entire world – all of which are in the southeastern U.S.
Claire first collected the new species in early 2019 while studying riverscour plant communities for her Master’s thesis and work as a graduate research assistant with the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative at Austin Peay State University.
“I suspected I had something weird pretty quickly, but I only had one specimen at the beginning. I didn’t know if I had found something new, an existing species that hadn’t yet been found in North America, a hybrid, or just a wonky individual – it’s amazing what fungal infections, insect galls, or stress can do to plants sometimes. But I think that uncertainty made everything even more exciting.”
When Claire’s efforts to identify the beaksedge continued to suggest an unknown species, she began contacting other botanists.
“Back then I was still pretty new to identifying beaksedges, so I wanted to be sure that I wasn’t missing something obvious or incorrectly interpreting a characteristic,” Claire said.
One of the botanists she reached out to was Robert Naczi, a beaksedge expert at the New York Botanical Garden. Rob examined multiple pictures of Claire’s specimen, and agreed that she might have found a previously undescribed species.
Thomas Murphy (left) and Mason Brock (right), both APSU and SGI alumni, assisted Claire (middle) and Rob (behind the camera) with some of the Tennessee site visits to study Stiletto Beaksedge in the wild. Photo credit: Rob Naczi
In the meantime, Claire did an exhaustive search of the Austin Peay State University herbarium looking for additional specimens that matched her unknown specimen. She found several specimens in the herbarium that matched hers, but were identified as other species.
By that point, Rob had found a specimen of the same entity that had been collected in Alabama, and suspected it was an undescribed species. After some excited emails, the two decided to collaborate on their study of the new beaksedge.
Their work showed that previous observations and collections of the species had been misidentified as a handful of other beaksedge species. To confirm that this was indeed a new species, they scoured plant specimens at 29 herbaria and studied it in the wild. Their description of Stiletto Beaksedge (Rhynchospora stiletto) as a new species was published in Kew Bulletin on August 16, 2022.
Stiletto Beaksedge meets the IUCN classification standards for a Vulnerable species. It only occurs in sunny, wet (or seasonally wet), calcium-rich but otherwise nutrient-poor grassland habitats. The seven sites where it has been documented are spread across Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee.
“It’s truly exciting to find something new in a region that is well-studied, particularly because it calls attention not only to a species of conservation concern but also to its imperiled habitat.
Over 99.9% of grasslands have been destroyed in the southeastern United States. Hopefully the recognition of Stiletto Beaksedge will bring more attention and conservation to the rich biodiversity southeastern grasslands still have to offer!”
Read the full species description: Ciafré, C.M., Naczi, R.F.C. 2022. Rhynchospora stiletto (Cyperaceae), a new species of beaksedge from the southeastern U.S.A. Kew Bull (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-022-10044-1
Stiletto Beaksedge is another example of the rich biological diversity that can be found in our southeastern grasslands and why it is so important to protect and conserve these vanishing ecosystems. Photo credit: Claire Ciafré
SHANNON TRIMBOLI, INTERIM DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Shannon helps the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative tell the forgotten and untold stories of our Southeastern grasslands.