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Rhynchospora colorata; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-09-10

Rhynchospora colorata (L.) H.Pfeiff.

Starrush whitetop; Star sedge; Texas star; White star sedge

Cyperaceae · Texas, Alabama +28

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Rhynchospora colorata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedRhynchospora colorata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedRhynchospora colorata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedRhynchospora colorata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedRhynchospora colorata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedRhynchospora colorata, photograph (c) José Garrido, some rights reserved (CC BY) 63 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
0.7°C
Record low -7.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jun, Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,369mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–41DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes March and May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Rhynchospora colorata, also known as starrush whitetop, white star sedge and white-topped sedge, is a perennial flowering plant in the sedge family. It has white bracts, giving it the appearance of white petals with long, green points. It is native to southeastern North America, from Virginia west to New Mexico in the United States, and south into the Caribbean islands.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Rhynchospora colorata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,005 mm of 1,335 mm) falls in March and May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.9 °C against a yearly mean of 21.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April and September.

Rain

1,335 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,005 mm of it March and May to October. Wettest month August at 191 mm, driest month January at 62 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 887 mm to 1,583 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,369 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,335 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 0.7 °C, the absolute minimum -7.8 °C, 117 frost nights in 44 years, 2.7 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 6.1 °C to 16.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.3 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, with a lapse correction of 0 m or none (the two are recorded alike); CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Rhynchospora colorata through the yearWarmest months June, July and August, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.3 °C; 1,335 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-7.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 19–41RH 58–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 786 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 16–2421 / 17–2523 / 19–2726 / 23–2929 / 26–3131 / 28–3231 / 29–3331 / 29–3430 / 28–3127 / 25–2924 / 20–2721 / 16–25
Night °C11 / 6–1713 / 8–1715 / 11–1817 / 15–2021 / 19–2323 / 22–2524 / 23–2624 / 23–2623 / 21–2520 / 16–2316 / 12–2113 / 7–18
Rain mm62 / 42–11870 / 48–11090 / 52–11768 / 51–9092 / 61–131180 / 109–242172 / 77–221191 / 65–242170 / 103–233110 / 76–14766 / 47–12164 / 39–118
DLI21 / 18–2426 / 22–2932 / 29–3539 / 35–4141 / 38–4339 / 37–4139 / 38–4337 / 35–4132 / 30–3427 / 26–3022 / 20–2519 / 17–22
RH %58 / 57–6158 / 57–6158 / 57–6158 / 56–6160 / 57–6362 / 60–6563 / 59–6563 / 58–6563 / 59–6460 / 58–6159 / 58–6059 / 58–60
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 786 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1302 records in those cells; 19 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1230:1978 (28.475, -81.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -7.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 786 distinct grid cells holding 1302 of the 1326 in-range records (19 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1230:1978 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_-81.250, lapse-corrected 0 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 22 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTexas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is., Windward Is., French Guiana, Venezuela · introduced: Nansei-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Lesser Sunda Is., Caroline Is., Tennessee, Trinidad-Tobago, Galápagos · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker26.306, -80.213 · in the densest population, 552 records (34% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1606 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1302 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1326 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 476 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 303 km away. 132 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 280 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1606 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Rhynchospora colorata, photograph 1did not loadRhynchospora colorata, photograph 2did not loadRhynchospora colorata, photograph 3did not loadRhynchospora colorata, photograph 4did not loadRhynchospora colorata, photograph 5did not loadRhynchospora colorata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (5); (c) José Garrido, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Serenoa repens Serenoa repens Saw palmetto Photo: CC BY, Scott Allen DavisSmilax auriculata Smilax auriculata Wild bamboo Photo: CC0, author not statedTiedemannia filiformis Tiedemannia filiformis Leafless Cowbane Photo: CC BY, Laura GaudetteSideroxylon tenax Sideroxylon tenax Tough-buckthorn Photo: CC0, author not statedLiatris chapmanii Liatris chapmanii Chapman's blazing star Photo: CC BY, James HardeeQuercus geminata Quercus geminata Sand live oak Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Rhynchospora 9 in the reference

Rhynchospora alba Rhynchospora alba White beak-sedge Photo: CC BY, Мирослав СоболевRhynchospora capitellata Rhynchospora capitellata Brownish beaksedge Photo: CC BY, John BaurRhynchospora corniculata Rhynchospora corniculata Short-bristle hornedrush Photo: CC BY, Ryan SorrellsRhynchospora corymbosa Rhynchospora corymbosa Matamat Photo: CC BY, Scott W. GavinsRhynchospora latifolia Rhynchospora latifolia Giant Whitetop Photo: CC0, author not stated Rhynchospora macrochaeta Cyperaceae Rhynchospora modesti-lucennoi Rhynchospora modesti-lucennoi Cyperaceae Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradeRhynchospora nervosa Rhynchospora nervosa Yerba de estrella Photo: CC BY, Arthur BruckRhynchospora pura Rhynchospora pura Cyperaceae Photo: CC BY, Karen Saunders

Names & registers

Also known as Cyperus kyllingia; Dichroma ciliatum; Dichromena ciliata; Dichromena colorata; Dichromena drummondiana and 15 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cyperaceae
Described by
(L.) H.Pfeiff.
Native to
Texas, Alabama, Arkansas +27
Wild records
1606 in range · 476 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 47 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (40 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_-81.250, lapse-corrected 0 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 112 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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